The Griffin Museum of Photography’s latest exhibition, titled “Traces of Existence,” brings together the compelling works of five talented Hispanic photographers: Muriel Hasbun, Alejandro “Luperca” Morales, Rodrigo Valenzuela, Ileana Doble Hernandez, and Alejandro Cartagena. Curated by Griffin Director Crista Dix, the show focuses on themes of home, identity, and migration, exploring these concepts through a range of photographic styles and techniques.
Muriel Hasbun’s evocative images from her “Pulse: New Cultural Registers” series blur the lines between painting and photography, incorporating elements of surrealism and abstraction to create spectral and ethereal works. The faint tracings of seismic readings from El Salvador connect Hasbun to her homeland, symbolic of both personal and national histories.
Alejandro “Luperca” Morales presents two videos of the Paso del Norte International Bridge between El Paso and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. These seemingly simple recordings are in fact complex explorations of immigration, deportation, and inequality, subtly drawing parallels to the surveillance cameras used at the bridge and the El Paso Zoo.
Rodrigo Valenzuela’s large-scale desert scenes superimpose geometric lines and structures onto empty landscapes, creating a juxtaposition of human artifice and natural emptiness. His work evokes a sense of displacement and a ghostly presence, echoing the terrain crossed by undocumented immigrants and the violent history of the region.
Ileana Doble Hernandez’s vibrant diptychs from the “Los Gringos” series document street life in the United States, often incorporating text and signs into the compositions. Her lightbox transparencies, part of the “Pollage” series, push these elements even further, creating visually striking and politically charged works.
Alejandro Cartagena repurposes vintage photographs in two distinct ways. In one series, he removes the subjects’ faces, commenting on absence, presence, and identity. In another, he arranges multiple vintage portraits in dense clusters, evoking a sense of multiplicity and erasure.
“Traces of Existence” offers a diverse and thought-provoking exploration of the ways in which photography can capture and convey the essence of human existence, delving into themes of migration, identity, history, and the complex relationship between the personal and the political.