PORTLAND, ME.- “The Missing Pictures,” a recent series of work by Connecticut-based photographer and filmmaker Sean Kernan, will be featured in a solo exhibition at Cove Street Arts, beginning on Thursday, May 16th, with an artist’s reception kicking off the gallery’s summer season. Renowned curator and photography expert in the state of Maine and beyond, Bruce Brown, will be present with the artist at the opening event, which runs from 5-7:00pm. The exhibition will be on view through July 27th, and will include clips of Kernan’s companion documentary film, “The Visitor,” screened throughout the duration of the exhibition.

A smaller version of “The Missing Pictures” debuted in February at Viewpoint Photographic Art Center in Sacramento, California, along with clips of “The Visitor.” Cove Street Arts has devoted an entire gallery space to showcase about three dozen of Kernan’s haunting, richly hued images from the series, that had its genesis while sheltering at his great-grandfather’s house in upstate New York.

Armed with a camera, Kernan visited alone at four seasons and recorded experiences of the home’s past inhabitants, his ancestors. The experience led to a body of work of poignant self-reflection.

“The house is a mystery that one enters and pieces together in a long, slow exploration of the library, and 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 that belonged to FDR. 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 across 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.”