Guest Curator: Liz Allen
Participated Artist: Participated Artists: Brenda Biondo, Meg Gould, Joshua Mokry, David Shannon-Lier, Ariel Wilson
Opening Reception and Artist Talk(Brenda Biondo), September 05,2025, 6 to 9 p.m.
Artist Talk: Joshua Mokry, September 19,2025, 6 to 9 p.m.
Closing Reception and Artist Talks, (Ariel Wilson and Meg Gould), October 03,2025, 6 to 9 p.m.
“I am burning with desire to see your experiments from nature.” – Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre
Nascent photographic technology was a delicate dance with light and chemistry fueled by curiosity and experimentation. In 1839 two processes were announced, first in France and later in England with great fanfare. However, Louis Daguerre and William Henry Fox Talbot were not the only ones toiling in their labs “burning with desire” as Daguerre described his excitement in a letter to his collaborator Nicéphore Niépce in 1828. Many others endeavored with various processes to capture the potential of an image created by light bouncing off a subject onto a flat surface. Some motivated by commerce, others by science, and still others by beauty, they could not have known how photography would transform the world by advancing the dissemination of information, shaping our relationship to representation, and thus influencing culture and history.
In the exhibition, Of Light and Alchemy, the desire still burns in these artists as they continue the rich and multi-faceted tradition of experimentation and discovery that was marked by those announcements nearly 200 years ago. Through various iterations of photo-sensitive materials, the artists delve into the human relationship to time, perception and metaphor in collaboration with light and nature to further expand the boundaries of experience.
Exhibition by Li Rothrock
Colors hold symbolism and meanings already established by Western societies. However, for Native and Indigenous people, the symbolisms are diverse and hold different meanings. The color red carries great significance for Indigenous and Native communities. It is a sacred color used to describe our origin stories, sacred land and blessings of fire for warmth, cooking and protection. Reclaiming Red explores the colonial implications of the color redand demonstrates how Indigenous people use it for healing, peace, sacredness, unity and Hózhó (a Diné Bizaad word for balance and harmony).
Participating artists: Tedra Begay (Diné), Jaida Grey Eagle (Oglala Lakota), Tailyr Irvine (Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes), Cara Romero (Chemehuevi), Eugene Tapahe (Diné) and Maya Tinhitiyas Attean, (Wabanaki, Penobscot Nation).
Curated by Erin Tapahe (Diné).
Image: Jaida Grey Eagle, “Always”, 2022.
An exhibition by current MFA students from the University of New Mexico, Arizona State University, and University of Arizona.
This exhibition speaks to the practices of thirteen artists in the midst of excavating and alchemizing their visions alongside one another.
Participating Artists:
Jacqueline Arias
Nathan Cordova
Zoë Gleitsman
claudia hermano
Mehrdad Mirzaie
Richard Pence
Elizabeth Piñeda
Emma Ressel
Francis Reynolds
li Rothrock
Anna Rotty
Brianna Tadeo
Nicholas Valdés
Everett Milloy
Camille Misty
Justin Lavilla
Alex Roos
Sam Wynne
Andrew Finch
Karen Wieboldt
Cooper Brown
Jason White
Mackenzie Bernett
Seral Bodies is curated by Roshii Montaño and Ninabah Reid Winton. The exhibition examines the contemporary practice of Indigenous photographers and artists: Rapheal Begay (Diné), Nate Lemuel (Diné), Sarah Sense (Chitimacha/Choctaw) and River Whittle (Caddo/Lenape).
In critical response to extractive practices represented within 20th century photography, the artists in Seral Bodies challenge historic narratives and static impressions of Indigenous bodies and sites through their dynamic practices, which re-insert living Indigenous bodies and languages on Indigenous lands.