UNI will host a photography exhibit and public lecture with Iowa photographer Miriam Alarcón Avila. Her solo exhibition titled “Immigrant Luchadores” will appear in the Gallery Showcases in the Kamerick Art Building (KAB) from September 15-October 13, 2023 during Latiné Heritage Month. Ms. Alarcón Avila will also present a public lecture in Spanish and English on Tuesday, September 19, 2023, in KAB Room 111 at 7 p.m. related to her photography with immigrant communities in Iowa and her recently published essay in the anthology Somewhere We Are Humans: Authentic Voices on Migration, Survival, and New Beginnings / Donde somos humanos: Historias genuinas sobre migración, sobrevivencia y renaceres (Harper Collins, 2023).
Miriam Alarcón Avila is a photographer, and a visual, multimedia, and storytelling artist whose mission is to produce art that leaves a legacy for a better, sustainable, and inclusive world without borders. Ms. Alarcón Avila grew up in Mexico City and was drawn to photography after witnessing the destruction of the 1985 earthquake, which inspired her to document both the disaster and human resilience. Over the past 20 years, Miriam Alarcón Avila has worked to document cultural diversity and artistic performance through photo and video documentation in Iowa.
Through a grant from the Iowa Arts Council, Miriam Alarcón Avila developed the photo-documentary project “Luchadores Immigrants in Iowa” highlighting immigrants of Latino heritage, which has appeared in universities and museums across Iowa.
The photography exhibit and public lecture are free and open to the public. A reception will follow and the anthologySomewhere We Are Humans: Authentic Voices on Migration, Survival, and New Beginningswill be available for purchase in English and Spanish.
This Latiné Heritage Month event is sponsored by the Department of Art, the Department of Languages & Literatures, the Chief Diversity Officer in the Office of the President, and UNIdos.
For more information contact:
Laura Gleissner, Gallery of Art Director, Department of Art, laura.gleissner@uni.edu
Elise DuBord, Professor of Spanish, Department of Languages & Literatures, elise.dubord@uni.edu
