PORTLAND, Maine — A sprawling new show at the University of New England Art Gallery features nothing but Maine photographers depicting Mainers living their regular lives in the Pine Tree State. It’s called “Everyday Maine.”

More than 100 prints from 73 photographers cover every available wall in the three-story gallery tucked away in a parking lot on Stevens Avenue. The black-and-white and color images, taken from the 1950s through the present, celebrate what ordinary people do, all the time.





“I wanted photos that showed faces and about 98 percent show exactly that,” said co-curator Bruce Brown. “I received dozens of images of people turned away — and they were lovely photographs — but I adopted this idea of seeing what people looked like.”

Together, the images form a powerful collective portrait of Maine people and their lives: People bake beans at the B&M factory in Portland; Jamaican migrants get ready to pick fall apples; rockers play heavy metal music in the woods; two small children square off wearing boxing gloves; a little girl in a Halloween mask hauls a red wagon full of day-old bread; and kids get a swimming lesson in a cold pond.