The walls of Lucy Dahl’s new Edgartown art gallery are lined with photographs she has taken over the years, many of which were created under the tutelage of Island photographer Alison Shaw.
Prominently featured on the center wall is Ms. Dahl’s Seven Stages of Grief series, a favorite of hers. The series was shot in 2018, following her divorce.
“What I wanted to do was photograph emotion and [specifically] the emotion that I was going through at the time,” she said.
To the right of the Seven Stages series, Ms. Dahl has hung portraits of her dog, one of which won first prize in the Martha’s Vineyard Magazine photo contest in 2018. To the left are landscape shots of the Vineyard.
The gallery officially opened to the public on August 1 but it has been in the works since the start of the summer, when a friend suggested she curate some of her photographs. Passionate about the idea and quick to seize the opportunity, Ms. Dahl located a space in town and signed a three-year contract on the storefront just days later.
“From the idea to having the location was no more than four or five days,” she said.
The prospect of showcasing her work has been frightening but also exhilarating, she said.
“It’s pushed me out of my comfort zone and I am very good at dancing within my comfort zone,” she said.
The youngest daughter of author Roald Dahl and award-winning actress Patricia Neal, Ms. Dahl spent her childhood summers on the Vineyard. She worked at the Chappaquiddick ferry on Dock street, earning the nickname “the Chappy Ferry Girl,” she said.
Opening the gallery just a few steps away from her old stomping grounds on Dock street has been a meaningful part of the process. “I wouldn’t do it anywhere but Edgartown,” she said.
The gallery is called Untamable, inspired by a friend’s description of her. “My friend from Norway said to me, ‘you are untamed, unleashed and you need to be accountable for something,” Ms. Dahl said, laughing. The word cut to the heart of her artistic sensibility, she said.
In addition to her solo work, Ms. Dahl has included a collaborative project she undertook with her friend, poet Michael Sisco. Mr. Sisco composes one poem daily inspired by his experiences with addiction and recovery. Ms. Dahl has selected a handful of these poems for the gallery and has superimposed them on a series of her own photographs.
“I think everybody, or a large percentage of people, know somebody who suffers from addiction or alcoholism,” she said of the project. “I want to expose him so that he can help other people, so that his words can help other people.”
The Untamable gallery also features a retail table with a curated selection of Ms. Dahl’s favorite products—from fragrant candles and jewelry to clothing designed by her daughter, Phoebe.
“There’s a whole gamut of things—a little bit of something for everyone,” she said.
Sitting on the gallery’s white couch on opening day, Ms. Dahl looked around, enjoying the moment.
“I haven’t jumped into this to sink or swim,” she said. “I’m doing this as a labor of love. I hope to be able to evoke some sort of emotion within people.”
The Untamable Gallery is located at 6 Dock street in Edgartown.
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