The Griffin Museum of Photography presents the exhibition Traces of Existence, featuring photographs by artists Alejandro Cartegena, Muriel Hasbun, Ilena Doble Hernandez, Rodrigo Valenzuela, and Alejandro Morales. The exhibition speaks to ideas of migration, history, reminiscence, family, and existence through experimental photography, such as collage, visual juxtapositions, and physical manipulations. Though distinguished stylistically, the artists’ exploration of their identity and homeland unite them conceptually.
In her series Pulse: New Cultural Registers, Muriel Hasbun references her homeland, El Salvador, through depictions of seismic registers. The exhibition will also feature a video installation by the artist titled Paper Boats (Barquitos de Papel), which asks visitors to participate by making their own paper boats.
Rodrigo Valenzuela’s series New Lands (Nuevas Tierras) makes visual connections to the land through desert landscapes that encourage us to think about man-made borders and their relationship to our sense of “place.” Working with local high-school students, Valenzuela will also create a site-specific installation both inside and outside the museum.
Ileana Doble Hernández will present two sets of series, Los Gringos and Pollage. Hernández defines herself as “an immigrant, a woman, a mother, and an artist,” a statement clearly reflected in her documentary photographs and collages.
Studio Sessions, by Alejandro Cartagena, are collages of found photographs that evoke ideas of nostalgia, home, and family history. The cut-outs emphasize the absence of figures, encouraging viewers to question the role of photography in remembering the past.
Huellas de Existencia | Traces of Existence
Alejandro Cartagena, Muriel Hasbun, Alejandro Luperca Morales
Rodrigo Valenzuela and Ileana Doble Hernandez
Until June 9, 2024
The Griffin Museum of Photography
67 Shore Road
Winchester, MA
www.griffinmuseum.org
