Entre mundos: Memory and Material

Entre mundos (Between Worlds) explores the spaces within, between, and among multiple worlds where transformation and change occur in art and individuals. Artists in the exhibition work with memory, material, and various printing techniques to communicate a sense of place, the experience of working as a migrant farmworker, and profound connections between culture, consciousness, and economies of power. 

In Luna llena (Full Moon), Ester Hernández reconceives the ancient Aztec myth of Coyolxauhqui’s dismembered body carved in stone into a shining fullness that empowers resistance. Artist Narsiso Martínez’s memories of working in the fields in Eastern Washington and the experiences he shared with migrant farmworkers are his material for Unnumbered Portrait III. In Georgina Reskala’s intimate and indistinct photographs on linen, the delicate threads of the fabric hold faint memories of a past reality. Marcos Irizarry’s collagraph print represents the artist’s break with figuration and his embrace of organic abstraction inspired by his memories of nature and music on Ibiza, a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea. 

The four works on view in Entre mundos entered the museum’s collection through the generosity of UO students, faculty and departments, and friends of the JSMA. The museum is deeply grateful to all the donors who made these acquisitions possible. UO student and museum intern Wendy Echeverría García worked with Cheryl Hartup, the JSMA’s curator of academic programs and Latin American and Caribbean art on Entre mundos. Theoretical texts by Gloria Anzaldúa, a Chicana lesbian activist and writer, inspired the title of the exhibition.