New Exhibition Ahndraya Parlato: TIME TO KILL Explores Fears and Fantasies Around Aging

Visitors to the George Eastman Museum have the opportunity to experience Ahndraya Parlato: TIME TO KILL, on view from June 20, 2026 to January 3, 2027.

Ahndraya Parlato: TIME TO KILL is an evocative interrogation of gendered aging unfolding through photographs, letters, and sculpture. In the exhibition, Parlato explores her fears and fantasies around aging. In this body of work, Parlato thinks about how women may become less culturally visible as they enter perimenopausal stages of life. As she simultaneously unveils the stories of her lived experience alongside those of possible future selves, she undertakes a search for identity and being.

“The Eastman Museum is excited to host Ahndraya Parlato’s first solo museum exhibition,” said Jamie M. Allen, Stephen B. and Janice G. Ashley Curator and Head, Department of Photography. “Our team has had the chance to participate in many meaningful discussions around this work, and it is wonderful to see everyone connect to it in varied ways. There is truly something universal being said in Parlato’s work TIME TO KILL.”

The photographs include portraits of women at varying and unidentified ages, spaces that are both vast and claustrophobic, and still lifes of domestic objects that are precarious and fleeting. The work is theatrical and literary, with imagery and writing that bring consideration to an otherwise often obscured phase of life. In her project, Parlato’s longing to play through as many projected scenarios as possible highlights the absurdity and ambiguity of the aging process.

Parlato’s expansive approach to storytelling allows the story to remain untethered from a specific moment in time, while elements of her creative writing allows the characters to be both mundane and fantastical. By creating alternate worlds where viewers are placed within a space of suspended disbelief, Parlato’s exhibition confronts everyday power dynamics and the deeply entrenched standards of beauty and caretaking.

Generously sponsored by the Rubens Family Foundation and Leading Edge Advising & Development, LLC.

Exhibition-related Programming

The George Eastman Museum will offer exhibition-related programming including:

• Members-Only Tour on Tuesday, September 22 at 6 p.m. 
• Exhibitions Celebration on Thursday, October 1 from 6–8 p.m.
• Artist Talk on Thursday, November 5 at 6 p.m. 

More information can be found at eastman.org/ahndraya-parlato-time-kill.

Related Publication
The accompanying hardcover book, TIME TO KILL by Ahndraya Parlato, will be available in the Museum Shop beginning June 20, and is available now through major booksellers. 

For ticket information, hours, and more visit eastman.org.

About the George Eastman Museum
Founded in 1947, the George Eastman Museum is the world’s oldest photography museum and one of the largest film archives in the United States. Its holdings comprise more than 400,000 photographs, 31,000 motion picture films, the world’s preeminent collection of photographic and cinematographic technology, one of the leading libraries of books and archival materials related to photography and cinema, and extensive holdings of documents and other objects related to George Eastman. The museum is located on the historic Rochester estate of entrepreneur and philanthropist George Eastman, the pioneer of popular photography. As a research and teaching institution, the Eastman Museum has an active publishing program, and its L. Jeffrey Selznick School of Film Preservation’s graduate program (a collaboration with the University of Rochester) makes critical contributions to film preservation. The George Eastman Museum is supported with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. For more information, visit eastman.org.