SACRAMENTO, CA.- “The Missing Pictures,” a new series of work by Connecticut-based photographer and filmmaker Sean Kernan, is being featured in a solo exhibition at Viewpoint Photographic Art Center in Sacramento, beginning today. In addition to the photographs, clips of Kernan’s companion documentary film, “The Visitor,” will be screened via Zoom, in a session with the artist, on Thursday, March 14th, at 6:15pm PST.

Two bodies of work are represented in the series, as expressed in both film and photographs, which had its genesis while sheltering in 2020 at Kernan’s great-grandfather’s house in upstate New York. Armed with a camera, Kernan visited alone during four seasons, and recorded his experiences of living with the spirits of the home’s past inhabitants, his ancestors. It all led to a work of poignant self reflection.

“The house is a mystery that one enters and pieces together in a long, slow exploration of the library, an elegant parlor, a bedroom, and a servant’s sparse bedstead,” Kernan said of his exquisite images.

“A door that says No Entry leads up the attic stairs, where one can find uniforms, oars and riding boots, costumes, banners, letters, books .. and that mysterious wheelchair they said was FDR’s. Sunlight filters through a curtain of tattered American flags, and sets the dust dancing.”

Kernan’s work has been widely exhibited at galleries and museums in Greece, Egypt, Mexico, South Korea, Italy, and the U.S. He has created media for performance pieces with Alison Chase at MASS MoCA, Guggenheim projects in New York, and the Portland Performing Arts Festival. The author of two monographs, “The Secret Books” with Jorge Luis Borges, and “Among Trees,” with Anthony Doerr, Kernan has also produced and directed several award-winning documentaries, including “The Kampala Boxing Club,” “Crow Stories,” and “A Mind of Winter.”

“Kernan asks the viewer to contemplate the unknown, to draw upon their curiosity and imagination,” said Viewpoint curator Robin Yeager. “As visitors explore the beautifully printed images in this exhibit, we encourage them to accept the photographer’s invitation to interact with an obscure past.”

Following its Sacramento debut, “The Missing Pictures” and “The Visitor” will travel to Portland, Maine, where it will be on view at Cove Street Arts, from May 9th through July 27th.