LEONARD NIMOY'S 'SECRET SELVES' ON SHOW AT MASS MOCA

INSPIRED BY ARISTOPHANES' THEORY THAT HUMANS WERE ONCE DOUBLE-SIDED CREATURES WITH TWO HEADS AND MULTIPLE LIMBS BEFORE ZEUS CLEAVED MAN IN TWO AND LEFT HIM FOREVER STRUGGLING TO BE WHOLE AGAIN, LEONARD NIMOY'S PHOTOGRAPHS REVEAL HIS SUBJECTS' OTHER HALF. SHOT IN NORTHAMPTON, MASSACHUSETTS, IN 2007, THE SERIES WILL BE EXHIBITED FOR THE FIRST TIME THIS SUMMER, OPENING AT MASS MOCA ON 31.JULY. FOR 'SECRET SELVES' NIMOY RECRUITED VOLUNTEERS TO BE PHOTOGRAPHED, POSED AND DRESSED AS THEIR TRUE OR IMAGINED SECRET SELVES. FROM THE POPULAR ROCK STAR AND SUPERMAN TO THE MORE UNEXPECTED WIZARD AND WOOD NYMPH, THESE OFF-LINE AVATARS OFFER AN INTIMATE, SOMETIMES HUMOROUS, AND OFTEN PROFOUND NEW LOOK AT THE RESIDENTS OF NORTHAMPTON WHILE TAPPING INTO A SHARED SENSE OF INNER YEARNING AND FANTASY. THE EXHIBITION PRESENTS A COMPELLING PERSPECTIVE ON THE COMPLEX STRUCTURE OF IDENTITY AS WELL AS AN INTIMATE LOOK AT THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PORTRAIT SUBJECT AND PHOTOGRAPHER.
LEONARD NIMOY WAS BORN IN BOSTON, MASS, IN 1931. AFTER A STINT IN THE ARMY, NIMOY WORKED IN FEATURE FILMS, TELEVISION AND THEATER APPEARING IN MANY OF THE WELL-KNOWN TV SERIES OF THE PERIOD. HOWEVER, IT WAS NIMOY'S ENORMOUS SUCCESS AS MR SPOCK IN THE SCIENCE FICTION SERIES, STAR TREK, WHICH GAINED HIM WORLDWIDE RECOGNITION. THROUGHOUT HIS LIFE NIMOY HAS BEEN ENGAGED WITH PHOTOGRAPHY AS BOTH STUDENT AND PRACTITIONER. IN THE 1970s HE STUDIED UNDER THE INFLUENTIAL PHOTOGRAPHER ROBERT HEINECKEN AT UCLA. IN 1973 NIMOY HAD HIS FIRST SHOW AT A GALLERY. THAT SAME YEAR HIS BOOK OF POEMS AND PHOTOGRAPHS, YOU AND I WAS PUBLISHED, AND BY 1977 HE RECORDED FOR THE DOT LABEL AND EARNED A MASTERS DEGREE IN EDUCATION. NIMOY AND HIS WIFE, SUSAN BAY NIMOY, HAVE CONTRIBUTED TOWARD A VARIETY OF CAUSES INCLUDING THE RENOVATION AND EXPANSION OF GRIFFITH OBSERVATORY IN LOS ANGELES AND THE THALIA THEATER IN NEW YORK CITY. A NEW LECTURE HALL AT THE OBSERVATORY, THE LEONARD NIMOY EVENT HORIZON, HAS BEEN NAMED IN HIS HONOR AND THE THEATER IN NEW YORK IS NOW NAMED THE LEONARD NIMOY THALIA.
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