“There is another world, but it is in this one,” said Surrealist poet Paul Éluard. In this exhibition, artists look to the future, imagining how we move forward from the tumultuous events of the past year. [read more]
Art in the Plague Year is an online exhibition organized by UCR ARTS: California Museum of Photography and curated by Douglas McCulloh, Nikolay Maslov, and Rita Sobreiro Souther. UCR ARTS’s programs are supported by UCR College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, the City of Riverside, Altura Credit Union, and Anheuser-Busch.
All works in this exhibition are reproduced with permission of the artists/copyright holders. Works (images, video, audio or other content) must not be used or reproduced for any purposes other than fair use without prior consent of the artists.
(b. 1992, Veracruz, Mexico. Lives and works in Jamapa, Veracruz, Mexico)
Habitar el cuerpo [Inhabit the body]
“When the world ends, only the body will remain,” writes Fernando Velazquez. The artist’s series began in pandemic-inspired introspection. “When the outside world turns inhospitable—an eminent, silent and hidden danger—the body becomes a fortress, a shield ... but also chaos.” For him, the body is both a retreat and a raw material. It is always available to work with, “a kind of moldable matter that holds memory.” Velazquez studied both photography and psychology, and the work carries psycho-social overtones. In particular, the project allows him to explore the male body as a place of self-care and caring for others. “Observing the male body as a place of plausible fragility allowed me to work and to recognize the social and personal functions that are ascribed to it, as an overlooked and infinitely creative place.”
