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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Bringing out both the serene and the solemn of her subjects, Lydia Panas&#8217; photography showcases raw and honest beauty and vulnerability in human form.</p><p>A collection of Panas&#8217; portraits is on display in an exhibition titled Lydia Panas: After Sargent until March 3 at Wilkes University&#8217;s <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/news/506630/q-a-with-baron-wolman-chief-photographer-at-rolling-stone-from-1967-1970" target="_blank">Sordoni Art Gallery</a>.</p><p>The models Panas chose vary in age, gender and cultural background and are captured against simple backgrounds both in-studio and outdoors.</p><p>Panas asks her models three questions: What do you long for? What do you regret? What are you afraid of?</p><p>And she prompts them with nothing else, eliciting a spectrum of expressions that can be read as anything from inquisitive and at-peace to intense and defensive.</p><p>&#8220;What motivates me is my desire to be close to people, my need to get close and have a certain kind of understanding that&#8217;s real, that&#8217;s not about masks,&#8221; Panas said. &#8220;It&#8217;s about trying to get past the masks.&#8221;</p><p>The exhibition is inspired by the painting &#8220;The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit&#8221; by John Singer Sargent alluding to it thematically in its ambiguity of expression and visually in its muted color palette.</p><p>Panas, whose parents moved between Greece and the U.S. three times by the time she was 5, said a constant feeling of being an outsider taught her to read people so she could fit in wherever she went.</p><p>&#8220;When I put people in front of me, we both drop everything and I can read a lot about them,&#8221; Panas said. &#8220;The work is like a Venn diagram. It&#8217;s where their fears, hope and vulnerabilities intersect with mine.&#8221;</p><p>Panas has taught photography at various institutions including Muhlenberg, Moravian and Lafayette Colleges and Kutztown University, in the same borough where she is based.</p><p>Most of her subjects, she said, are friends, children of friends or students. Panas invites her models to her family farm where, she said, she&#8217;s bringing them into her context.</p><p>Some of Panas&#8217; photographs portray individuals like Tia Angela in her flowing red dress, juxtaposed against a natural cool-green backdrop.</p><p>&#8220;I really only took a few of her in the dress, but they ended up being the good ones,&#8221; Panas said. &#8220;It happens by chance. I don&#8217;t dictate too much.&#8221;</p><p>Other portraits depict pairs and larger groups of people. Fraternal twin sisters Maria and Corrine appear protective of both themselves and each other. Their individual personalities shine as apparently as their undeniable connection.</p><p>As a child of immigrants, Panas said, she was imbued with the importance of family and became fascinated by relationships.</p><p>&#8220;What I&#8217;ve been photographing since 2005 is connections,&#8221; Panas said. &#8220;That&#8217;s ultimately trust, longing, love and all of that starts from home.&#8221;</p><p>Panas said she&#8217;s interested by the ambiguities that happen between people in relationships.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s more than how they engage with us,&#8221; Panas said. &#8220;It&#8217;s how they engage with each other. I&#8217;m interested in how people can be very close to each other but also very alone.&#8221;</p><p>Panas said, ultimately, the work becomes about getting to know a person on a level that allows for an intimacy and shared sentiment.</p><p>&#8220;The more I stand there and watch them, and the more comfortable they get, the more I can understand them,&#8221; Panas said.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Kutztown-based photographer Lydia Panas, right, chats with long-time family friend Aphrodite Togias, of Shavertown, during the opening reception of her exhibition &#8216;After Sargent&#8217; at Wilkes University&#8217;s Sordoni Art Gallery in Wilkes-Barre. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/web1_TTL02xx17PanasArt_1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Kutztown-based photographer Lydia Panas, right, chats with long-time family friend Aphrodite Togias, of Shavertown, during the opening reception of her exhibition &#8216;After Sargent&#8217; at Wilkes University&#8217;s Sordoni Art Gallery in Wilkes-Barre. </caption0><photoCredit0>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/web1_TTL02xx17PanasArt_3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wilkes University students Jillian Weston, of South Canaan Township, left, and Richard Yoeun, of Philadelphia, look over the photographs of Lydia Panas at the Sordoni Art Gallery. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/web1_TTL02xx17PanasArt_3.jpg</photo1><caption1>Wilkes University students Jillian Weston, of South Canaan Township, left, and Richard Yoeun, of Philadelphia, look over the photographs of Lydia Panas at the Sordoni Art Gallery. </caption1><photoCredit1>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/web1_TTL02xx17PanasArt_4.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Artist Elizabeth Fulton, of Lehman Township, looks over &#8216;Tia Angela,&#8217; a chromogenic print by photographer Lydia Panas. Panas said for a few moments during her shoot, she and her models &#8216;understand each other perfectly.&#8217; </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/web1_TTL02xx17PanasArt_4.jpg</photo2><caption2>Artist Elizabeth Fulton, of Lehman Township, looks over &#8216;Tia Angela,&#8217; a chromogenic print by photographer Lydia Panas. Panas said for a few moments during her shoot, she and her models &#8216;understand each other perfectly.&#8217; </caption2><photoCredit2>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/web1_TTL02xx17PanasArt_2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">GAR High School student Leslie Lopez, of Wilkes-Barre, looks over the chromogenic photograph &#8216;Maria and Corrine&#8217; by photographer Lydia Panas. Panas said she&#8217;s interested by the connections and ambiguities between people in relationships. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/web1_TTL02xx17PanasArt_2.jpg</photo3><caption3>GAR High School student Leslie Lopez, of Wilkes-Barre, looks over the chromogenic photograph &#8216;Maria and Corrine&#8217; by photographer Lydia Panas. Panas said she&#8217;s interested by the connections and ambiguities between people in relationships. </caption3><photoCredit3>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit3></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Lydia Panas gets past masks of her models</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Matt Mattei</p><p>mmattei@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>IF YOU GO</strong></p><p>What: Lydia Panas: After Sargent</p><p>Where: Sordoni Art Gallery, 150 S. River St., Wilkes-Barre</p><p>When: Through March 3</p><p>Additional information: The exhibition is free and open to the public from noon to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Matt Mattei at 570-991-6651 or on Twitter @TimesLeaderMatt.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Renowned photographer Lydia Panas shows raw portraits at Sordoni Gallery