SOMOS

 

The University Art Gallery is delighted to present Somos by multimedia artist Edgar Reyes, on view in the University Art Gallery through October 15.

Experience the exhibition from afar! 
The UAG is pleased to offer a video tour of Somos for those unable to visit in person. Enjoy! 

 

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Please join us!

Edgar Reyes will present his work to the Sewanee community in conversation with Assistant Professor of Spanish Lucía García-Santana on Sept. 30 at 5 p.m. in Guerry Auditorium. 

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In Somos, the personal and specific become communal. Images of loved ones, of remembered places, are filtered, layered and abstracted. Printed on chiffon or canvas, the images float in the air or drape the wall. Places and people from the past are honored, held on to, and shared. In other pieces, vividly colored abstractions repeat motifs drawn from traditional Mesoamerican and Mexican artwork, or present new patterns representative of a common experience. Images of plants, native and non-native, cultivated in a family garden or at large agricultural scale, weave through the exhibition, emblematic of displacement and exploitation, but also of home and resilience.

Reyes, born in Guadalajara, Mexico, came to the United States as a young child and lived here for many years as an undocumented youth. His practice draws on the specifics of his own life, but invites reflection on shared experiences of resettlement and migration in the Americas, and on definitions of Mexican American, Latinx, and Mesoamerican indigenous identities.

Working collaboratively is an act of healing for the artist, a way to connect with others through “shared narratives of survival.” Somos was inspired by several conversations in the spring of 2021 between Reyes and University of the South students participating in H.O.L.A. (Hispanic Organization for Latino Awareness). Angela Barbosa, Dana Garcia, Angela Garza, Debanhi Guerrero, Edgar Huerta, Jonathan Lopez, and Katherine Zelaya all generously shared their time and experiences with Reyes.

Reyes’ work invites all viewers to think about the people, places, and connections they carry with them - wherever they are - and forges new communities.

Reyes earned his M.F.A. in Community Arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2014. His work has been prominently featured in large scale public installations like Suenos, a monumental light box and banners displayed during Baltimore’s Light City Festival, and Xochitl, vivid abstract patterns installed in shop windows in Rockville, MD as part of the VisArts Make It Visible project. His work has also been showcased at the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, in dialogue with the permanent collection, and inviting broad community participation. For several years a teacher at St. Andrews Episcopal School, Potomac, MD, Reyes is now a lecturer and site coordinator at Salisbury University, the Universities at Shady Grove.