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The mark of a thought-provoking exhibit is that it leaves you with more questions than answers and, eventually, with the desire to see more. Such is the case with You belong here: Place, People and Purpose in Latinx Photography, the exhibit on view at the Michael C. Carlos Museum until December 3, which examines the Latinx communities in all their complexities and nuances. The term Latinx has recently emerged as a gender neutral alternative to the use of Latina or Latino to refer to people with Latin American ancestry.
The undertaking is vast and the purpose ambitious. Latinx is considered the largest ethnic group in the United States,and, yet, its representation in the public eye is often misguided and seen from the perspective of outsiders.
Guest curator Pilar Tompkins Rivas, chief curator at the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles, proved to be up to the challenge. (Tompkins Rivas will give a virtual lecture at 7:30 p.m. on October 4.)
As a first-generation immigrant from a Mexican family who moved to Dallas, she has long struggled to feel a sense of belonging in the United States. “I rarely forget that the place where I belong is embedded within a continual process of belonging.” She refers to the nepantla, the in-betweenness, a sentiment that often permeates Latinxs’ experiences.
In her introduction to the exhibit, she writes about the “deep lack of visibility for this multifaceted community” that still persists. “Latinxs are often rendered largely invisible through ongoing systems of erasure, exclusion and disfranchisement.” The exhibit originates from her work as guest editor of “Latinx,” the Winter 2021 issue of Aperture Magazine.
By curating the work of 16 artists whose roots are in Mexico, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and El Salvador, among other places, Tompkins Rivas was mindful to cover a large geographical spectrum of Latinx communities. But she was also attentive to exploring the Latinx world through photographic portfolios that address both social and gender-related issues.
In An Attempt to Stop Flipping Houses, photographer and educator William Camargo confronts the issue of gentrification by holding in front of his face a sign that advertises cheap homes for sale in Anaheim, California, his hometown. Camargo’s presence in the frame reinforces his message and forces the viewers to “reflect on where they live, and the history that is not really centered,” he explains.
Some of the most striking images are from works by the late Chicana photographer Laura Aguilar, in which the artist, through self-portraiture, openly investigates her own identities and her malaise with the society in which she lives. In her iconic black and white image Three Eagles Flying (1990), she photographed herself half naked with her face veiled with the Mexican flag, her body and neck strangled with a thick cord. She positioned herself in the middle of the photograph, flanked on one side by the American flag and on the other by the Mexican one, as if unable to fully part with either of the two cultures.
Not all the work in the exhibit is as dark and tense as Aguilar’s. The show features more traditional portraiture settings that are no less powerful. In his ongoing series Adelante, Steven Molina Contreras collaborates with his family and reflects on their histories to address issues of migration and divinity.
Although personal, the work of the young El Salvador-born photographer resonates in a universal fashion. Mujeres Celestiales, a portrait of women in his family — his mother, grandmother and two sisters — is especially arresting in the way it radiates a feeling of intense strength and poise.
More classic but equally beautiful are two black and white photographs by one of the more established photographers featured in the exhibit, Hiram Maristany. A self-taught photographer who passed away last year, he captured moments of intense joy in Spanish Harlem, where he lived, challenging negative images of Puerto Ricans in New York.
Two videos, including an installation piece by Sofia Córdova, provide an interesting and colorful contrast to the printed materials. Cordova records herself dancing with three other dancers in a bright yellow room, juxtaposing her movements with photographs and film footage of revolutionary events.
The exhibit features artists working either on the West Coast or in New York, and it is disappointing to see that not a single photographer based in the American South was selected. Curators at the Carlos Museum have organized a series of local events around the exhibit, notably a conversation on October 12 with two Atlanta-based photographers, Victoria Garcia and José Ibarra Rizo. It is little consolation but hopefully it will go a long way and be noticed by Aperture’s curation team for future exhibits.
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Virginie Kippelen is a photographer, multimedia producer and writer specializing in editorial and documentary projects. She has contributed to ArtsATL’s Art+Design section since 2014, writing mostly about photography. And after living 25 years in the United States, she still has a French accent.
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