Cape Ann Museum Exhibition: This Other Eden, Photographs by Anne Rearick

This Other Eden, Photographs by Anne Rearick spotlights everyday life at Gloucester’s Stage Fort Park On view Nov. 14, 2026 through March 21, 2027 at the Cape Ann Museum’s Downtown Campus 

GLOUCESTER, MA (October 2026) – More than 60 photographs by documentary photographer Anne Rearick, taken in recent years at Gloucester’s Stage Fort Park, will be featured in a special exhibition at the Cape Ann Museum’s Downtown Campus from Nov. 14, 2026 through March 21, 2027. This Other Eden, Photographs by Anne Rearick features families picnicking, congregants celebrating weddings and baptisms, men and women taking part in historical reenactments, and visitors from across the region enjoying quiet moments by the sea.

“Stage Fort Park is a familiar landscape of recreation, respite and gathering at the edge of the sea,” said Oliver Barker, Director of the Cape Ann Museum. “Through Anne’s work, the park becomes a lens through which to consider the stories of place and the people who shape it—questions of belonging, displacement and shared space that resonate across generations. At the heart of the Museum’s mission is a commitment to telling the stories of Cape Ann: of the people who have called this place home, those who do so today, and those who will shape its future. This exhibition reflects that enduring commitment, inviting us to look anew at a familiar landscape and the many lives, histories and experiences it holds.” 

A Guggenheim Fellowship recipient and longtime Gloucester resident, Rearick teaches photography at the Cambridge School of Weston and is the author of six monographs. Although she has lived in Gloucester for nearly 30 years, her documentary work has largely taken her elsewhere, with extended projects on amateur boxing, the French Basque Country, and post-Apartheid South Africa. 

In the accompanying exhibition catalog, Rearick writes that she was initially hesitant to approach strangers at the park, which offers many immigrant families a peaceful escape from the city in the summer months.

“Why would anyone allow me to photograph them during such precarious times? Yet nearly everyone I asked said yes,” Rearick writes. “I was humbled and deeply moved by the trust extended to me by families from Syria, Puerto Rico, Palestine, the Dominican Republic, Türkiye, Afghanistan, and Guatemala, among so many others.”

The exhibition takes its title from John of Gaunt’s description of England as “this other Eden” in Shakespeare’s “Richard II.”

“Looking at Stage Fort Park today, Gaunt’s words take on a renewed, vital force,” Rearick writes. “It stands as our own ‘other Eden,’ a sanctuary that preserves our shared humanity in uncertain times. These photographs are my love letter to a place that belongs to us all.”

In addition to Rearick’s essay, the fully illustrated catalog features an essay by John Jacob, McEvoy Family Senior Curator of Photography at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Renwick Gallery, positioning Rearick’s work within the tradition of 20th-century documentary photography. The catalog also includes an overview of the history of Stage Fort Park by Martha Oaks, Henrietta Gates and Heaton Robertson Chief Curator at the Cape Ann Museum.

Spanning more than 60 acres of sandy beaches, granite outcroppings, and open green space, Stage Fort Park has been owned by the City of Gloucester and open to the public since 1898. When advocating for its purchase, city officials noted that the park would be “thoroughly appreciated by every man, woman, and child in this city, as well as the many who come among us for a summer home.” Over the decades, the park has hosted circuses, Wild West shows, civic celebrations, and cultural festivals. An adjacent gallery at the Museum will showcase this rich history.

The exhibition opens with a reception on Saturday, Nov. 14, from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Downtown Campus. Admission is free for Cape Ann Museum members, and advance registration is recommended. The Museum has also organized a public programming series in connection with the exhibition, including lectures, gallery talks, studio programs, and walking tours:
? Artful Conversations: Baptism, by Anne Rearick — Thursday, November 19, and Thursday, December 3, at 12:30 p.m.
? Gallery Conversation: Looking Together with Anne Rearick — Saturday, November 21, 2026, and Saturday, January 16, 2027, at 2 p.m.
? CAM Talk: Anne Rearick in Conversation with Meghan Clare Considine — Saturday, January 30, 2027, at 2 p.m. ? CAM Talk: Anne Rearick in Conversation with John P. Jacob — Saturday, March 13, 2027, at 2 p.m.
? Special Exhibition Tours: This Other Eden, Photographs by Anne Rearick — Select Saturdays, January–March 2027, at 1 p.m.

Support for this exhibition has been provided by the Kanter Kallman Foundation and the City of Gloucester as a lender to this exhibition. To learn more about This Other Eden, Photographs by Anne Rearick and related programs, visit capeannmuseum.org