Experience the Art and Artist: MSV Showcases Lisa Elmaleh’s Photography and Offers Rare Tintype Portrait Session

The Museum of the Shenandoah Valley (MSV) is spotlighting the powerful work of photographer Lisa Elmaleh with two exhibitions in the MSV Glen Burnie House—marking a first for the MSV. This is the first time the museum has presented two exhibitions by the same artist in a single year, and the first time the Glen Burnie House exhibition will change midyear. American Folk: Tintype Portraits of Appalachian Musicians is now on view through August 17, and Promised Land/Tierra Prometida will open August 19. This midyear transition coincides with public opportunities to meet Elmaleh, including a rare chance to have a tintype portrait made using 19th-century methods on June 7.

Based in Hampshire County, West Virginia, Lisa Elmaleh is a visual artist and Guggenheim Fellow known for her evocative tintype photography and large-format documentation of American landscapes and culture. Her work has been exhibited nationally and featured in The New York Times, National Geographic, and Smithsonian Magazine.

On view now through August 17, American Folk: Tintype Portraits of Appalachian Musicians features 22 striking tintype portraits created using a historic 19th-century photographic process. The exhibition showcases Appalachian musicians captured by Elmaleh on 8″x10″ plates, each developed on-site in her mobile darkroom during travels through Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky from 2010 to 2015. The resulting images are intimate and timeless, celebrating the enduring legacy of folk music and the cultural traditions of the Appalachian region.

Opening August 19 in the Glen Burnie House, Promised Land/Tierra Prometida is Elmaleh’s most recent and ongoing project, with photographs made as recently as 2025. Since 2020, Elmaleh has volunteered with humanitarian groups and migrant respite centers on both sides of the U.S.–Mexico border, documenting the experiences of individuals and families seeking asylum, the groups aiding them, and the often perilous conditions they face. Inspired in part by her own family’s migration story, she uses a large-format camera to create powerful portraits that reflect the resilience, uncertainty, and dignity of those she encounters. The exhibition will feature black-and-white gelatin silver prints. On view through December 31, 2025, the MSV presentation includes several photographs on public display for the first time.

Special Opportunities to Meet the Artist

On Saturday, June 7, Lisa Elmaleh will offer a rare opportunity to sit for a tintype portrait in the MSV gardens from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Each 45-minute sitting—available for individuals or couples—takes place outdoors and results in a striking 8″x10″ tintype portrait (available for pickup June 14). Only 10 sessions are available. The $325 fee per session includes MSV admission for the day. Advance registration is required and may be completed at www.theMSV.org/tintype25 or by calling 540-662-1473, ext. 240.

Elmaleh will return to the MSV as the featured artist for MSV at Night on Thursday, August 22, from 5 to 8 p.m. Taking place the week Promised Land/Tierra Prometida opens, the evening offers special nighttime access to the new exhibition and an opportunity to connect with the artist. Attendees will enjoy informal conversation with Elmaleh and have a chance to browse a selection of her works—available for purchase only during the MSV at Night event. The evening also includes live blues, rock, and Americana music from Zac Townsend and the Mudcats (sets at 5 & 6:30 p.m.), with food, beer, and wine available for purchase. Sponsored by Braddock Wealth Management, admission to MSV at Night (includes the music, galleries, house, and gardens) is $15 for adults, $10 for seniors (60+) and youth (13–18), $4 for children (ages 5–12), and free for ages 4 and under and MSV members. Discounted advance admission tickets are available at www.theMSV.org

A regional cultural center, the MSV is located at 901 Amherst Street in Winchester, Virginia. The MSV includes a galleries building with permanent and rotating exhibitions, the Glen Burnie House, seven acres of formal gardens, and The Trails at the MSV—a free-admission art park open daily from 7 a.m. to dusk. The galleries, gardens, and Glen Burnie House exhibitions are open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (closed Mondays). Additional details are available at www.theMSV.org or by calling 540-662-1473, ext. 235.—END—

About Lisa Elmaleh:
Lisa Elmaleh (b. 1984) is an American visual artist, educator, and documentarian based in Hampshire County, West Virginia. She specializes in large-format work in tintype, glass negative, and celluloid film. Since 2007, she has traveled across the U.S. documenting American landscapes, life, and culture.

Born in Miami, Florida, Elmaleh earned a BFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York in 2007, where she was awarded the Silas Rhodes Scholarship. Upon graduating, she received the Tierney Fellowship, developing a project that documented the impact of climate change on the Everglades. This work culminated in the 2016 book Everglades.

Her work has been exhibited nationwide, and she is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including the prestigious Arnold Newman Prize in 2022 for her Promised Land series and a 2024 Guggenheim Fellowship. Elmaleh’s photography has been published in Harper’s Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine, The New York Times, National Geographic, and other outlets.

Since 2014, she has lived in Paw Paw, West Virginia, where she continues to document the landscape, culture, and community around her.