Photo-Journalist Opens Exhibit on Latino Culture at AS220
GoLocalProv Arts Team
Photo-Journalist Opens Exhibit on Latino Culture at AS220
Journalist and photographer Huáscar Robles will present “El País Bajo Mi Piel: Culture, Memory and Resistance,” a collection of photographs that chronicle Providence’s Hispanic community.
Robles' work is the product of a month-long residency at AS220, much of which he has spent on foot, in Providence's Hispanic neighborhoods. The project that resulted from his research and photography explores the intersection between culture and memory of the Hispanic community and the challenges it faces as a minority in Providence. During his residency at AS220, Robles thoroughly visited neighborhoods of predominantly Latino families and spent time chronicling their everyday lives. The exhibit, which draws inspiration from Gioconda Belli’s novel of the same moniker, depicts the way in which individuals demonstrate pride and resistance by “wearing” their nationalities.
“Hanging a Mexican flag on your dashboard or a wearing a tattoo of the Puerto Rican flag are acts of resistance," said Robles. "This is a great demonstration of clout in a city whose Hispanic members are constant targets of immigration policies and the Secure Community strategies that have threatened the stability of Latino neighborhoods from Olneyville to Central Falls."
El Pais Bajo Mi Piel: Culture, Memory and Resistance, AS220 Photo, 93 Mathewson St, Providence. Reception Tuesday, May 31, 6 pm. Show continues through June.