This new installation of photographs from the DMA’s collection highlights the exemplary work of more than 20 women photographers who have expressed softened and dreamlike aspects in their pieces.

By experimenting with distortion and placing particular emphasis on how the body connects or contrasts with the surrounding environment, these artists invite viewers to feel a sense of strange familiarity in their works, such as the awareness of being in a dream or the surreal experience of déjà vu.

While the tradition of Surrealist photography was primarily male-dominated, featuring the female form as subject, Soft Focus presents work from women behind the camera, using similar techniques from their own perspectives.