Contemporary Ibero-American Staged Photography at FotoWeekDC

The Iberoamerican Cultural Attachés Association celebrates Fotoweek DC with My Kingdom for a Stage, an exhibition by contemporary Iberoamerican photographers at Hillyer Art Space.

My Kingdom for a Stage: Contemporary Iberoamerican Staged Photography is an exhibition curated by Susana Raab, featuring works that illuminate a spectrum of staged photographic practices by contemporary Iberoamerican photographers working in documentary and conceptual traditions.

Photography is often equated to an indelible truth, but since its infancy the medium has been as much about promoting fantasy as reality. All works are united in an Iberoamerican identity, whether through the use of symbols, magical realism and the whimsy, or the cultural forces that inform the Iberioamerican diaspora.

Contemporary and cultural concerns are revealed in these artists’ works as they explore their own emigrations, dying cultural customs, environmentalism, religious iconography, and other topics analogous to the Iberoamerican identity. The borders of the original kingdom have become fluid and the stage has expanded to occupy a multiplicity of voices springing from one original platform.

Selected artists

• Argentina: Irina Werning
• Brasil: Mostra Tua Capa
• Chile: Rodrigo Valenzuela
• Colombia: Adriana Duque
• Costa Rica: Eloy Mora
• Ecuador: Paola Paredes
• El Salvador: Fred Ramos
• España: García de Marina
• Guatemala: Mario Santizo
• Honduras: Hector Rene
• Mexico: Dulce Pinzón
• Paraguay: Norberto Duarte
• Peru: Rafael Soldi
• Portugal: Miguel Proença
• Uruguay: Roberto Fernandez
• República Dominicana: Fausto Ortiz
• Venezuela: Francisco Elías Prada

About Susana Raab

Susana Raab is a documentary photographer and curator based out of Washington, D.C. She works at the Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum as a photographer in addition to pursuing her own personal projects. Her work has been exhibited internationally and is held in the collections of the Library of Congress, the Art Museum of the Americas, the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, among others. She was born in Lima, Peru and raised throughout the United States.

About García de Marina

Born in Gijón in 1975, García de Marina underwent a deep transformation in 2010. A slumbering passion for photography broke through his privacy, and started a sparkling career characterized by photographic reflection, in sharp contrast to the author’s restless nature. In less than a year, García de Marina gave in to a devotion for photography, unveiled his rare photographic gaze on social networking sites, and presented his work in various exhibitions. After a largely unassuming and unquestioning life, photography involves a change of personal outlook in a context of economic and social crisis.

Meet the artists and the curator at the reception on Friday, November 6th, from 6 pm to 9 pm. Panel discussion with curator Susana Raab and Carmen Ramos, curator of Latino Art at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, on November 12th at 6 pm.