Remembering Eden: Montclair Art Museum

This exhibition presents contemporary still-life photographs by New Jersey artist JP Terlizzi (b. 1962), exploring intimate connections between memory, meaning, and beauty. Through thoughtful arrangements of food, heirlooms, textiles, flora, and fauna, Terlizzi creates distinct yet interconnected series that consider how the objects we keep and the rituals we repeat become vessels for personal identity and collective history. The images exist in spaces between joy and decay, comfort and uncertainty—each a poetic moment that invites viewers to look beyond the surface, to “hear with their eyes,” and to witness how the familiar becomes tender, unexpected, and transformative. Rooted in domestic tradition and childhood memory, the works encompass themes of belonging—how we gather, what we inherit, and the fragile ways memory endures through what we use, preserve, and share.