Mehrdad Mirzaie for Land Body and Archive

MFA students present Land, Body & Archive photo exhibition at UNM

Land, Body and Archive, an exhibition by current MFA students from The University of New Mexico, Arizona State University, and University of Arizona, is now on exhibit at the John Sommers Gallery at UNM.
September 1, 2023
photos by Mehrdad Mirzaie

A public reception will be held Friday, Sept. 8, from 5 to 7 p.m.

Member curators Nathan Cordova, Emma Ressel and li rothrock explained, “The works selected eviscerate the boundaries between how our individual photography practices examine relationships to Land, Body, and Archive. The artists employ storytelling, collage, and the recontextualization of imagery to challenge dominant narratives, borders, histories, and ourselves. This conjunctive presentation connects the nodes of our experiences across the American Southwest to underscore our collective concerns and create an experience to encounter photography, each other, and the world anew.”

“Through Land, Body and Archive we bear witness to changing landscapes and waterways, family and community memory, and the embodiment of ritual. At stake is the negotiation of identity, positionality, and relationships with human and non-human relatives,” said UNM Art History Ph.D. student Marina Perez writes,

Participating artists are Zoë Gleitsman, claudia hermano, Emma Ressel, Francis Reynolds, Anna Rotty, Brianna Tadeo, and Nicholas Valdés, all of UNM and Jacqueline Arias, Nathan Cordova, Mehrdad Mirzaie, Richard Pence, Elizabeth Piñeda, and li rothrock.

John Sommers Gallery is open Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. – 4:45 p.m., and by appointment. For more information about the exhibition or to make an appointment, contact Rotty at sommersgallery@unm.edu or follow @swphotocollab on Instagram.