Gallery Response Essay-Christopher McVicar

 Curatorial Activism Defined 

    Curatorial activism refers to organizing a group of artists, shared ideas, and general themes to advocate for social change. The primary goal of this practice is to challenge established power dynamics within the art world. Within Kimberly Drew’s memoir, "This is What I know About Art,” she recalls questioning what “museums even do?” to show what inspires curatorial activism at its core (Drew, 38). Her curiosity underlines the limited visibility for people of color within the arts, and how the exclusionary measures being taken can lead to a feeling of hopelessness. An activist approach, like Kimberly Drew’s, often emphasizes the inclusion of marginalized voices, artists exposed from underrepresented racial, gender, or cultural groups, whose work has historically been overlooked. By advocating in such a way, one’s work captures “what would happen” if one “did not want” to go to a museum, show, or any exhibit relating to art (Drew, 38). Curatorial activism seeks to reframe dominant “master” narratives, fostering dialogue around social dilemma, and inspiring audiences to reconsider traditional perspectives within art and society. 

Latin Lens Report 

In this showing of thirteen contemporary photographers on the east coast, curator Natali Bravo Barbee captures the essence of Latin American diaspora. Some photographers chosen were born in other countries, while some were born in America. To convey multiple perspectives for her audiences, she investigates themes like family, environment, and dialogue shared through the perseverance of Latin blood. During her introductory speech, Barbee describes her showing as “usual suspects,” who are not typically seen together due to hardships like migration, and cultural bereavement. By exploring these themes, Barbee demonstrates an activist showing and desire to show the unseen “contemporary aboriginal art” (Reilly). Latin Lens depicts those separated by cultural displacement yet unified through the persistence of shared ancestry. 

Gabriel Garcia Roman

"I Am My Father's Son"

    Gabriel Garcia Roman’s 2016 piece titled “I Am My Father’s Son,” explores the psychological stress within Latinx kindred. Culminating layers of burden manifested vinyl is hand cut and woven to capture the physicality of strain. The artist did not have a great relationship with his father growing up, even claiming to lack an emotional reaction to his father’s death, where the inspiration for this piece was drawn. Roman seeks to create a familial bond through physical appearance for what was unthinkable to express with emotions. In processing this matter, he used photo editing software to assemble a self-portrait with a photo of his father in one composition for sake of reference. From there, Roman strips away sections of the foreground to create a puzzle where both individuals are constructed as one, despite their differences. While this piece highlights stress though personal matters, it symbolizes how physical elements create dialogue on a holistic level. A memory, nightmare, or vision can pass one by, yet the only way to recapture those feelings is through external measures like a lens.  

    

Cesar Melgar

"Seduced by the Suburbs"

    Cesar Melgar offers a beautiful scope to intertwine physical and intangible realms, pondering how one may struggle to grasp identity politics being Seduced by the Suburbs. Raised in Newark, New Jersey, once a thriving industrial center, Melgar is the son of Colombian/Peruvian first-generation immigrants. His slideshow includes the Adams theater torn to decay, and the raw, lonesome background music of Newark's subway system, amongst other components. The chosen imagery enables viewers to find beauty in a state of despair, reflecting the systemic inequities still prevalent from white flight in America. While one seeks a foreign community to foster wealth and social status, one is left to see the deterioration of housing, and general infrastructure within their native land. At the opening reception, Melgar recounts that greenery reappears throughout his work, imposing a metaphoric escape from the troubles that plague Latin American diaspora.  

Jacqueline Herranz Brooks

"All is There to See"

    Having the inner desire to find an escape through nature is also explored by Jacqueline Herranz Brooks. With their “All is There to See” series, they began to take pictures while strolling through Forest Park, in Queens, New York, documenting iPhone pictures of their surroundings in turn. Around each picture’s location is a QR code to scan and hear Jacqueline’s recordings in real time, along with the option to write back a shared experience via postcard. Brooks’ creative intuition revolves around active interplay, which is crucial to liberate a post-colonial society longing to break free from assimilationist culture.  

    In Latinx culture, family, environment, dialogue, and many other factors beyond the confines of this report serve as powerful representations of the community's struggles. While “it is evident that” bigotry and discrimination “have become so insidiously woven into the institutional fabric [,]” curators like Barbee and the Latin Lens’ artists shed light to trickle down generations and time (Reilly). The centrality of this exhibition reflects the importance of collective strength in overcoming adversity, the environment represents expulsion, and survival. Dialogue, both in terms of aesthetics and storytelling, captures the dualities of identity, and resistance serving as a means of preserving heritage. Together, these artists form a narrative of struggle and perseverance, essential to understanding the Latinx experience. 

Works Cited

Drew, Kimberly. This Is What I Know about Art. Penguin Workshop, 2020. 

Reilly, M. (n.d.). TOWARD a CURATORIAL ACTIVISM. Western Art – It’s a White Male Thing, 1. https://www.maurareilly.com/pdf/essays/CIAFessay.pdf