In The Spirit Y En El Espiritu: Works By Mariana Yampolsky - Opening

En Foco, in partnership with Pregones and the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater, is proud to present In The Spirit / En El Espíritu: Works by Mariana Yampolsky. This exhibition features a curated selection of portraits by renowned Mexican photographer Mariana Yampolsky (1925–2002). The exhibition is an initiative of the Nueva Luz Study Center (NLSC) and part of En Foco’s mission to preserve the culture and legacy of diasporic lens-based artists. The exhibition will be on view from October 24, 2024 - March 31, 2025, at Pregones/PRTT located at 575 Walton Ave, Bronx, New York 10451, and virtually at enfoco.org. Public programs will be announced.

The exhibition showcases Yampolsky’s captivating black-and-white photographs, which highlight the timeless landscapes and intimate stillness of rural Mexico. Taken primarily during the 1980s and early 1990s, these photographs explore the quiet beauty of Mexico’s small towns, drawing viewers into a reflective space where the silence becomes an open canvas for personal narratives. 

Yampolsky, a foreign-born artist who adopted Mexico as her home, captured the country's rural life through an extraordinary lens. Her work was deeply influenced by Mexican photographic pioneers such as Lola Álvarez Bravo and her peers, including Manuel Álvarez Bravo and Graciela Iturbide. With a focus on indigenous communities, her work speaks to the intersection of tradition, community, and identity. The photographs in In The Spirit Y En El Espíritu go beyond documentation. Yampolsky’s work balances hardship with moments of simplicity and reflection, offering a space to contemplate life's layered human conditions. Through her lens, Yampolsky invites viewers to witness the potential for magic in the every day, presenting rural Mexican life in a way that echoes into the fast-paced modern world. Her work, suspended in time, becomes an incantation of life itself, where the contradictions between life, death, ritual, and celebration palpitate across the images.

About Mariana Yampolsky:
Mariana Yampolsky, born on September 6, 1925, in Chicago, Illinois, earned a Bachelor of Arts in social sciences from the University of Chicago in 1944. After her father's passing and her mother's relocation to New York, Yampolsky was profoundly inspired by a campus presentation about the Taller de Gráfica Popular (People's Graphic Workshop), a renowned collective of printmakers and artists dedicated to social causes. Motivated by this, she moved to Mexico in 1945 to join the group, becoming the only female member of the Taller. While studying at the prestigious art school La Esmeralda, she honed her artistic skills and immersed herself in Mexico's vibrant cultural scene. Yampolsky transitioned into photography in 1948, documenting Mexican murals, folk art, and the country's rural life. Her body of work, which includes more than 66,000 photographs, captures the essence of Mexico's landscape, culture, and people. A significant milestone in her career came in 1951 when she co-founded the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana, an influential institution promoting Mexican art. She held her first solo photography exhibition in 1960. Yampolsky became a Mexican citizen in 1958 and is celebrated for her contributions to both Mexican art and photography. She passed away on May 3, 2002, leaving behind a rich legacy of work that continues to resonate with audiences today.

ABOUT THE CURATOR:
Xavier Robles Armas is a multidisciplinary artist and curator with a keen interest in leisurely practices in public space, photography, Mexican-American literature, and how migration has shaped space and architecture throughout the United States. He is currently the Events and Arts Manager for the Latinx Project at New York University, where he curated Tinkuy: Converging Ecologies (2023) and supported the organization of the exhibitions Re-collections (2024) and Allow me to Gather Myself (2023). Xavier was most recently a Leadership Institute Fellow at the National Association of Latino Art & Cultures (NALAC) (2024) and was part of the A&L Berg Foundation Early Stage Arts Professionals (ESAP) inaugural cohort of Latinx curators. He has held fellowships at the Queens Museum and the Art Institute of Chicago, and has worked as a curator, educator, and programmer at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago; ProArts Gallery, Oakland; Southern Exposure Gallery, San Francisco; Grand Central Art Center, Cal State Fullerton; and the Eric Carle Museum, Amherst, MA. Currently enrolled in the Performance Studies Master’s program at New York University, Xavier also holds an MFA in Photography from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BA in Architectural Studies from Hampshire College. He has rounded out his education through a series of immersive courses in Urban Design at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design and in Graphic Design at Humboldt State University. Born in Zacatecas, Mexico, Xavier lives in Queens, New York—by way of Santa Ana, California.

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