Nuestros Ancestros
OAS AMA F Street Gallery
1889 F Street NW
Washington, DC 20006
On view by appointment:
fgoncalves@oas.org
Rosi Calderón (Mexico)
Tomiko Jones (United States)
Ania Moussawel (United States)
Lissette Schaeffler (Cuba)
Elizabeth Sanjuan (United States)
The OAS AMA | Art Museum of the Americas presents Nuestros
Ancestros, an exhibition of six contemporary photographers of
different geographical origins whose work nevertheless touches on
parallel experiences of family relationships across generations,
migratory histories, growth and aging, loss and grief, parenting and
caregiving.
Erola Arcalís (Menorca / Spain) combines images
of abstract landscapes and sculptural still life to create fictions
around individual and collective memories. Her Shipwreck Studies
draws influence from her great-grandfather, a shipbuilder and a
humanist.
Rosi Calderón (Mexico) creates visual narratives which
capture the intricate complexity of time through compositions that
reveal the constant movement between the present and the past. Also
interweaving past and present, life and death, and using oceanic
vessels to conjure subject matter, Tomiko Jones (United States)
references her father inhabiting the diaphanous space between life
and death, with floating silk landscapes and solid walnut framed
images of the body and its urn, with suspended ribs of the skeleton
boat and the heft of the hand-carved wooden oar. Ania Moussawel
(United States) depicts different generations as they grow and age,
and the life that continues after the death of a family member,
through the lens of migratory patterns, shining a light on the roles
of mothers as providers, caregivers, and the bearers of cultural
traditions. Lissette Schaeffler (Cuba) focuses on exploring the
connections between memory, time, and place, exploring family
histories, assembled memories, and the passage of time. Elizabeth
Sanjuan establishes an intimate series revolving around her
grandmother, revealing strength and tenderness across a lifetime
marked by changes along the personal and political landscapes from
Cuba to the United States.
Throughout these artists's works,
we see movement between the present and the past, across lifespans.
There are successes and hardships according to circumstances. We see
the walls of homes, dilapidated and dusty, filled with memory and
significant personal objects, from wedding dresses to clocks. We see
ships built and ships wrecked. Join us on a journey across national
borders and through time.
Accessibility: The OAS AMA F Street
Gallery is wheelchair accessible by the elevator at ground level
just beyond the entrance. Restrooms are wheelchair accessible.
For more information on
accessibility, please contact 202 370 0147 or artmus@oas.org