"The Female Face," Photographs by Jean Merrill at Bernardsville Library

Bernardsville Public Library is pleased to present "The Female Face," photographs by Jean Merrill on exhibit in the Library's Community Room during the month of January. The artist's reception will be on Sunday, January 8 from 2:00 to 4:00 pm; the show will be on view from January 4 to January 31, 2017.

"Robert Capa once said, 'If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough,'" said Ms. Merrill, "I have been drawn to the inspiration, hope, despair, joy, sorrow, contemplation, and determination I see in a woman’s or girl’s face and have tried to capture it in photographs. It’s important to get close enough without invading the privacy of the moment I see in the eyes or facial features of my female subjects. And it takes patience and luck to capture that moment."

In her book, "The Face: A Time Code," Ruth Ozeki explores how her own Japanese American face has shaped and been shaped by her life. She believes that writing as well as reading novels allows us to see our reflections transformed enough to be able to "enter another's subjectivity." Ozeki writes, "There's new subjectivity when I look at others. Their faces mirror mine and my face mirrors theirs and this gives rise to a feeling...of kinship." This is how Ms. Merrill says she feels about photographing the faces of women. "I hope the visitors to this show will look at each image and ask themselves 'What is she thinking? What is she feeling? Can I identify with that emotion?'”

Jean Merrill is a scientist, educator, and photographer. With a PhD in Immunology and an MBA in Marketing and Finance, she spent her entire scientific career searching for causes of and therapies for Multiple Sclerosis (MS). She has taught and led research teams in both academia as a Professor of Neurology at UCLA School of Medicine and as an executive in the pharmaceutical industry. After spending 35 years working on MS, she retired three years ago. Her recent projects, working with her husband Doug Munch, have included volunteering to educate Native American youth on reservations and pueblos in the Southwest in ways to practice healthy living, and developing and teaching a course on drug discovery to undergraduate students at Smith College, her alma mater. In her spare time, she continues to study and dance Argentine tango.

This exhibition will be on view in the library’s Community Room during regular library hours unless a meeting is in progress. For further information, please call the library at 908-766-0118.

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Photo: Naita, Maasai Chief’s Fifth Wife, Tanzania, 2013