“Lydia Panas: Letters to My Mother” is an emotional tribute by fine arts photographer Lydia Panas to her mother who died in 2019.

Letters written by the artist imprinted with red lipstick form the genesis of the project on display with large lipstick-kiss digital prints created by Panas, through March 7, Soft Machine Gallery, Allentown.

The closing reception is 5 p.m. - 8 p.m. with an artist talk by Panas at 5:30 p.m. March 7.

“Feeling unmoored after my mother died, I began writing letters to her in the form of drawings, things I had been unable to put into words,” says Panas.

“The drawings included lipstick impressions that echoed the way women in the 1960s and ’70s pressed their lipstick onto tissue after applying it,” Panas says.

The letters, rendered on drawing paper, tracing paper and vellum, created in 2019 while Panas was in Rome, Italy, on a residency, are exhibited on a large floor display. The large digital prints were created in 2026.

There is a continuous loop of six videos with five women applying shades of lipstick, first within the boundaries of their lips, then outside of them. One video depicts an attempt to cleanse hands of the lipstick stain.

“It relates so much to femininity and to my relationship to my mother,” says Panas. “The marks we leave, the stains that get left behind from the things we go through as young people [are reflected in the videos and artwork],” Panas says.

Panas has degrees from Boston College, the School of Visual Arts and New York University. The recipient of a Whitney Museum Independent Study Fellowship and a CFEVA Fellowship, she divides her time between her farm and studio in Greenwich Township, Berks County, and New York City.

“Lydia Panas: Letters to My Mother,” through March 7, Soft Machine Gallery, 105 Ridge Avenue, Allentown. Gallery hours: noon - 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. - 6 p.m. Wednesday, noon - 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. - 6 p.m. Thursday (until 8 p.m. Third Thursdays), noon - 3 p.m., 5 p.m. - 6 p.m. Friday, noon - 4 p.m. Saturday, or by appointment. Closed Sunday. 484-714-4229, info@softmachinegallery.com

“Gallery View” is a column about artists, exhibitions and galleries. To request coverage, email: Paul Willistein, Focus editor, pwillistein@tnonline.com