WINCHESTER, MASS.- The Griffin Museum of Photography is presenting the exhibition Traces of Existence, featuring photographs by artists Alejandro Cartegena, Muriel Hasbun, Ilena Doble Hernandez, Rodrigo Valenzuela, and Alejandro Morales. Open April 6 through June 9, 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 also features 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 presents 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.