Staged in recognition of International Human Rights Day, the photographic project shows a Peruvian landscape bearing scars of violent crimes motivated by homophobia and transphobia.
New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, in partnership with the Center for Latin American & Caribbean Studies, is pleased to announce the opening of “Fatherland,” the Winter/Spring 2017 exhibition at the Gallery Space at Wagner (Puck Building 295 Lafayette Street (at the corner of Houston St.) 2nd Fl, New York, N.Y.) on Tuesday, December 6. The event will begin with a preview by the artists at 6 p.m., followed by a panel discussion entitled “LBGTQIA Human Rights in Latin America & Beyond” at 7 p.m.
Staged in recognition of International Human Rights Day, “Fatherland” features photography by visual artists Juan José Barboza-Gubo and Andrew Mroczek. The limited-space exhibit opening and discussion are open to the public via RSVP at wagner.nyu.edu/events. Please register by Friday, December 2.
The selected works represent the most recent from Barboza-Gubo and Mroczek’s ongoing photographic project highlighting the social justice struggles of LBGTQIA communities in Peru. The images reveal the Peruvian landscape as spaces of evidence within the extreme, and rather common, circumstances of violent hate crimes motivated by homophobia and transphobia. While Peru’s landscape is often celebrated for its diverse climate and rich history, it also bears the scars of a violence born from patriarchal constructs and a culturally rooted intolerance that permeates its rural neighborhoods, farmlands, public parks, and urban districts.
Juan José Barboza-Gubo (Peru, 1976) is the recipient of two MFA degrees, in painting and sculpture, from the Massachusetts College of Art & Design. An award-winning artist, he has had numerous gallery and museum exhibits, both locally and internationally, including in Tokyo, Athens, Italy, and Peru. In 2014, Barboza-Gubo was named Breakout Artist of the Year by Artscope Magazine. He currently teaches at Rhode Island College.
Andrew Mroczek (U.S., 1977) received an BFA in photography from the Art Institute of Boston. His critically-acclaimed photography and mixed-media collaborations with Barboza-Gubo have been exhibited across the US and abroad and reviewed by the inter- national media. Mroczek's curatorial work has been featured in The Boston Globe and Art New England, among other publications. He is Associate Director of Exhibitions at the Lesley University College of Art & Design and a member of the Cambridge Arts Council.
Confirmed speakers for the accompanying panel discussion include: Fabrice Houdart, Human Rights Officer, United Nations; Salvador Vidal-Ortiz, Associate Professor of Sociology, American University; and moderator Claudia Sofía Garriga-López, NYU's Department of Social & Cultural Analysis. They are joined by Barboza-Gubo and Mroczek and other experts in the fields of international human rights, social justice, Latin American studies, and gender and queer studies.
Fatherland is curated by Frankie Crescioni-Santoni and co-sponsored by NYU Wagner’s Alliance of Latin@s & Allies in Public Service (ALAS), the International Public Service Association (IPSA), and the Stonewall Policy Alliance (SPA). Fatherland runs December 6, 2016 through March 7, 2017.