"A photograph is great when it shows you connections you might never see otherwise. Consider William Eggleston’s monumental tricycle, RaMell Ross’ camera shroud, Nan Goldin’s unflinching black eye. LeXander Bryant’s exhibition Dirt Road Baby — on view through Dec. 20 at Red Arrow — is full of great photographs. 

A quiet portrait sets the stage. At 60 by 40 inches, “Deacon Berry” is the largest photograph in the exhibition, but most of that space is taken up with darkness, barely perceptible in shades of black. The deacon is shown in profile, and his head is bowed as he reads from what one can only assume is a Bible. The photo’s one instance of color comes from a glowing stained glass window that silhouettes the holy man. And what a color — a sharp, cyan blue centers what looks like a neon sign of praying hands, and is echoed in the gallery’s upper level, where a line of cyanotypes puts a gritty, experimental cap on the show."

-Laura Hutson Hunter