About

Charan Devereaux is interested in the intersection of community, history and art. She grew up near Cleveland, Ohio and currently lives in Somerville, Massachusetts.  

Charan’s projects have received support from The Boston Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities (Mass Humanities), the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA), the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC), the Somerville Arts Council, the Harvard Business School Business Plan Competition (Social Enterprise Track) and the Club Passim Iguana Fund and have been recognized by the Points of Light Foundation, the Boston Music Awards, and the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) Leadership in History Awards (2017, 2020, 2022). Charan was named a 2020 Commonwealth Heroine by the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women.

Charan studied photography at the Massachusetts College of Art, the New England School of Photography, the Griffin Museum of Photography, and Harvard University.

 

Recent Exhibits and Projects

2021

Presenter, Massachusetts History Conference, “Finding Community through History.”

Producer, “Voices from Somerville: Culture, Community and History,” series of six events

2019

The Somerville Museum, “Faith in a City: Exploring Religion in Somerville, Massachusetts,” curator/producer.

2018

Presenter, Massachusetts History Conference, “History Unseen,” Worcester, MA.

2017

Boston City Hall, Scollay Square Gallery,  "Stare," curated by Karen Haas, Lane Curator of Photographs, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Griffin Museum of Photography's Gallery at Lafayette City Center Passageway, "'The Visual Metric," curated by Paula Tognarelli, Executive Director, Griffin Museum of Photography

Dedham Portrait Project, sponsored by the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the Dedham Square Artist Guild, curated by Paula Tognarelli, Executive Director, Griffin Museum of Photography

Poster presentation, American Association for State and Local History annual conference, Austin, Texas

2016

Griffin Museum of Photography, 22 Juried Show Exhibit via Instagram, curated by Paula Tognarelli and Iaritza Menjivar

Massachusetts State House, "Union Square at Work,"  presented by State Representative Denise Provost and the Somerville Museum

Peter Griffin Fine Art Photography, Providence RI, Invitational Holiday exhibit

Griffin Museum of Photography, Atelier 24 and Winter Solstice exhibits

2015

The Somerville Museum, "Union Square at Work"

Past exhibits include:

Washington Street Art Center, Somerville MA

Club Passim, Cambridge MA

Holyoke Center, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

Taubman Building, Harvard Kennedy School, Cambridge, MA

 

Selected Press

The Somerville Times, "The Somerville Museum's 'Union Square at Work' Wins Award." Rebecca Danvers, September 7, 2017.

What Will You Remember? Blog, "32 Reasons to Stare!" Elin Spring, June 13, 2017.

The Somerville Journal, "Historians and entrepreneurs discuss Somerville’s immigration and economy," Mariya Manzhos, May 15, 2017, p. A1.

The Boston Sunday Globe, “Union Square as it Was,” October 4, 2015, p. G4.

The Boston Globe, "Portraits of Somerville's Union Square at work," Bennie DiNardo, October 2, 2015.

The Somerville Times, "Meet the Workers of Union Square," Mariya Manzhos, October 8, 2015, p. A1. 

What Will You Remember? Blog, “Beckoning Byways!" Elin Spring, December 2015.

The Somerville Journal, “Somerville Museum to Present Community Concert,” October 3, 2019.

The Somerville Times, “Faith in a City Explored at the Somerville Museum,” November 20, 2019, page 1.

The Somerville Times, “Faith in a City Community Concert at the Armory,” December 4, 2019, page 14.

The Somerville Journal, “Somerville Museum Hosts Interfaith Panel to Discuss Building Community,” January 6, 2020, page 1.

The Somerville Times, “Somerville’s Ambassador of Harmony: The Spiritual Music of Henry Hadley,” January 15, 2020.

The Somerville Times, “Fire and Roses: The Burning of the Charlestown Convent, 1834,” January 22, p.4.