Welcome to October 2022! This Hispanic Heritage Month, En Foco continues to renew our commitment in support of photographic artists from diverse cultures and backgrounds from throughout the diaspora. Our platform for often unseen narratives has forged a global community drawn together by a deep history of creative resistance that is equal parts justice-driven and celebratory of our passions and talents. 

From New York to Puerto Rico, from Columbia to Mexico, the Dominican Republic to Peru and beyond, we often serve as the first and only space for artists to be recognized for their high quality photographic vision as defined by their peers. As our mission evolves, we remain focused on ensuring that artists, writers, students, scholars and fans of the medium find themselves reflected in our Nueva Luz publications, exhibition walls and online galleries.

This month, join us as we announce the 2023 Photography Fellowship Application, highlight previous Fellowship winners, share exciting exhibition information featuring previous En Foco artists, and to learn how you can support hurricane relief efforts in the Caribbean & Florida.

Stay tuned to www.enfoco.org and follow us on social media to stay updated on all En Foco related events.

ARTIST FEATURE: CARMEN LIZARDO

En Foco 2022 Photo Fellow and multimedia artist Carmen Lizardo was born in the Dominican Republic and immigrated to the United States when she was 19 years old.

“I am a Dominican woman, an Afro-Latina, and I wake up and walk in that proudly,” Lizardo said. “My cultural identity shows up in all of my work; I could never be separated from our deep sense of struggle, our history of colonization, and our place in America. I bring myself into my artwork because it’s who I am.”

In the series To Swallow a River (2020-ongoing), Lizardo uses the idea of bodies of water and portraits from public and personal archives and original photographs to explore the relationship between voluntary-involuntary immigration and their intersections with modern forms of slavery within American history. View her artwork in the current edition of Nueva Luz (Volume 26:1).

EN FOCO PHOTOGRAPHY FELLOWSHIP 2023

The En Foco Photography Fellowship is designed to support photographers of color who demonstrate the highest quality of work. Apply today!

The application closes on November 11, 2022. A how-to-apply session will be available in October 2022 - Stay tuned!

EN FOCO'S PHOTOGRAPHY FELLOWSHIP ISSUE | VOLUME 26.1

Designed to support photographers of color who demonstrate the highest quality of work as determined by a photography panel of peers and industry professionals, the Fellowship initiative affirms En Foco’s ongoing commitment to the financial support of artists of color and serves to inform exhibition organizers and curators of an existing pool of quality under-recognized artists.

Featured artists: Carlos L. Esguerra, Carmen Lizardo, Cinthya Santos-Briones, Daniel Aros-Aguilar, Dennis RedMoon Darkeem, Diana Guerra, Jahi Sabater, Javier Álvarez, Nyasia Sylvester, Paola Martínez Fiterre

CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

Daniel Aros-Aguilar: Convergence: Artists & Community Exhibition

September 22 – October 22, 2022

Bronx River Art Center

In celebration of BRAC’s 35th Anniversary, studio artists and teaching artists (educators at BRAC) will present their works in this survey exhibition that includes paintings, drawings, printmaking, ceramics, mixed media, and performance art. All works will be for sale to help keep BRAC’s programs affordable or free. Join us and discover the talent of BRAC's cohort of artists who dedicate their talents and work to the Bronx communities.

Dennis RedMoon Darkeem: Patchwork Travelers

September 30         

New York Penn Station (NYP) Upper Floor

2022 En Foco awardee Dennis RedMoon Darkeem is a multimedia artist based in the Bronx. Reflecting his Indigenous and African American heritage, Dennis’ work explores themes of identity, culture, and community.

"Patchwork Travelers," draws on colors, patterns and icons such as the medicine wheel from his dual heritage as an Indigenous and African American. As a mixed media artist, Darkeem blends collage, sculpture and photography in his work.

Samantha Box: Caribbean Dreams

August 29 – October 13, 2022

Kathleen O. Ellis Gallery

Samantha Box’s new body of work, Caribbean Dreams, is a series of complex studio still lifes of personal, familial, and regionally-referenced objects, heirlooms, fruits, vegetables, and plants, onto which she collages family and vernacular images, fruit stickers, packaging, and receipts.

Samantha Box’s new body of work, Caribbean Dreams, is a series of complex studio still lifes of personal, familial, and regionally-referenced objects, heirlooms, fruits, vegetables, and plants, onto which she collages family and vernacular images, fruit stickers, packaging, and receipts. A departure from earlier methods and subject matter, the constructed, experimental, and unpredictable compositions of Caribbean Dreams embody Box’s exploration of multiple diasporic Caribbean histories and identities.

Abya Yala: Structural Origins

Lehman College Art Gallery

September 21 - January 28, 2023

BronxArtSpace

September 28 - November 5, 2022

Longwood Art Gallery

October 5 - January 6, 2023

Abya Yala: Structural Origins examines the various processes and forms of creation inspired by traditional methodologies, materials and concepts which were implemented during the different stages of cultural and intellectual growth in the American continent. This project explores the inevitable repercussions that past generations had on the aesthetic, cultural or social values present in contemporary art in Latin America today. This project also refers to the evolutionary processes in the arts which have influenced the different transformations that Latin American art has undergone. In the exhibitions that make up this edition of the 2022 New York Latin American Art Triennial (NYLAAT) we also try to establish the link between contemporary art in the continent and the premeditated use of materials, elements and forms of autochthonous expression of the first inhabitants of this region from the mats, baskets, goldsmith, pottery, textiles, altars, rituals, paintings closely related to tapestry, sculptures in clay, stone, metal, etc.

BronxArtSpace

September 28 - November 5, 2022

Longwood Art Gallery

October 5 - January 6, 2023

Abya Yala: Structural Origins examines the various processes and forms of creation inspired by traditional methodologies, materials and concepts which were implemented during the different stages of cultural and intellectual growth in the American continent. This project explores the inevitable repercussions that past generations had on the aesthetic, cultural or social values present in contemporary art in Latin America today. This project also refers to the evolutionary processes in the arts which have influenced the different transformations that Latin American art has undergone. In the exhibitions that make up this edition of the 2022 New York Latin American Art Triennial (NYLAAT) we also try to establish the link between contemporary art in the continent and the premeditated use of materials, elements and forms of autochthonous expression of the first inhabitants of this region from the mats, baskets, goldsmith, pottery, textiles, altars, rituals, paintings closely related to tapestry, sculptures in clay, stone, metal, etc.

Abya Yala: Structural Origins

Lehman College Art Gallery

September 21 - January 28, 2023

Rising

September 29 - October 20, 2022

BxArts Factory

Featuring work from 2022 En Foco Fellowship awardee Daniel Aros-Aguilar. Join BxArts Factory and their studio artists in a celebration of new space, new beginnings and resilience. Come celebrate the opening our our space and help us fundraise to continue our mission in the Bronx.