Our Town is a black-and-white portrait project documenting the people of Peterborough, New Hampshire, and the surrounding Monadnock region.

The project takes its working title from Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, which was inspired in part by the town of Peterborough and the people who are the fabric of the community. Like the play, the series will explore community, identity, belonging, and the significance of ordinary lives. Rather than photographing the town through its buildings or landscapes, Our Town will tell the story of the area through the people who live, work, create, and contribute here.

The project will include portraits of individuals with meaningful connections to the region, including longtime residents, newcomers, artists, farmers, educators, business owners, tradespeople, students, civic leaders, service workers, and others whose experiences reflect the breadth of the community.

Each subject will be photographed in black and white against a stark white backdrop. By removing environmental context, the portraits will focus attention on each person’s expression, clothing, posture, and presence. The visual approach is influenced by the directness and psychological intensity of Richard Avedon’s In the American West, while developing a distinct identity rooted in contemporary New England.

The goal is not to create a complete census or an idealized portrait of small-town life. Instead, the project will bring together a varied group of individuals who collectively reveal the character, complexity, and changing identity of the region.

Selected portraits may be accompanied by brief biographical information or a short statement from each participant about their connection to the area. The completed work may be presented through a public exhibition, book, community installation, online archive, or a combination of formats.
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Opportunities to Participate

Potential subjects are invited to take part in a straightforward portrait session and share, in their own way, what connects them to the community.

Galleries and cultural organizations can support the project through exhibition space, programming, curatorial collaboration, and public engagement.

Sponsors can help fund equipment, production, printing, framing, publication, and community access to the finished work.

Community partners can assist with identifying participants, providing locations, sharing local knowledge, and helping the project reflect a broad range of experiences.

Our Town is intended to become both a contemporary portrait of the Monadnock region and a lasting visual record of the people who define it.