2026 Senior Exhibition Artists 2026 Senior Exhibition Artists: Mariah Horvitz

About Mariah Horvitz

Mariah Horvitz is a photographer based in New Bedford, Massachusetts. She received her B.F.A. in Photography from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in 2026. During her time at UMass, she has worked as a photographer for The Torch, the on-campus newsletter, where she captured a range of campus events and student life. 

Her work focuses primarily on portraiture and multi-channel media, incorporating both photography and video. Horvitz explores themes of gender, sexuality, and suspense, using visual storytelling to create emotionally intense imagery that engages her audience. Through her practice, she aims to bring forth a sense of atmosphere and connection, drawing viewers into the narratives she constructs.

Statement

Living 

What’s the point?
I ask myself every day,
tuck, trapped, hurting,
Changes forced to happen,
Needing help with simple things,
Missing out on moments I can’t redo. 

What’s the point?
I don’t know,
Tense, overwhelmed, existing,
Unable to change the past,
Questioning what comes next,
Wondering if things will ever be the same. 

What’s the point?
I think it’s what you make of it,
Trying, hoping, living,
Embracing the tragedy,
Waking up and moving on,
Living for the good and bad. 

Last year, I broke my ankle after slipping on black ice outside my home, an abrupt moment that changed my sense of independence and control. A physical injury quickly became something more, impacting my mental health, my relationships, and my perception of time. Being confined to my couch for months created a sense of stillness that contrasted with the world around me. I felt stuck, as if life was continuing without me, and I was unable to catch up. My work reflects this experience of interruption and the emotional weight that followed. I am interested in how the body holds trauma and how spaces hold memory. The locations I document, my home, where the incident occurred, and my dorm, where I continue to recover, act as both physical and psychological environments. They reflect a transition between past and present, immobility and movement, isolation and reconnection. 

Using both photography and video, I create a multichannel installation, Living while Existing, that mirrors the fragmented way that memory and emotion are experienced. Repetition, looping, and stillness are crucial in my process, emphasizing the difficulty of moving forward and healing. Reenactments of mannerisms blur the line between documentation and performance, allowing me to process the experience while also inviting the audience into that space. The inclusion of quieter, joyful moments within the work serves as a necessary counterbalance. These clips are not meant to erase the pain, but to acknowledge the coexistence of growth and difficulty. Healing, for me, is not linear but layered, uneven, and ongoing.  

The goal of my process is to create an emotional connection. Rather than showing a completed story, I want viewers to sit with the uncertainty and to consider their own experiences with disruption and recovery. Living is about redefining what it means to move forward, learning to exist with change, and finding meaning in both loss and growth.

@mhorvitzphotography

Mariah Horvitz

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