Hybrid Topographies presents fourteen contemporary artists from Latin America who share an engagement with the landscape, whether urban or rural. Each weaves a multiplicity of narratives that stem from personal and collective encounters with place as a means for change and transformation. Ranging from Caludia Andujar's documentation of the Yanomami people of the Amazon, to Jesús "Bubu" Negrón's presentation of a marimbula, a percussion instrument from the Caribbean, the works on view represent potential sites for understanding the other or as tools for building community.
Central to each artist's practice is a strong interest in history, the legacy of colonialism and a quest for their roots. Combining both new and historical sources, the artists employ hybridity not only as a conceptual framework, but also as a way to blur the boundaries across different media to address questions of identity, invisibility and otherness. Artists like Carlos Castro Arias, William Cordova and María Elvira Escallón bring cultural symbols from the past into the present, collapsing temporalities to signal the cultural complexity and diversity of Latin America's people, and a modern vernacular forged by shared co-existence.
This exhibition is organized by Art, Culture & Sports and guest curated by Monica Espinel.