UALP Fellow & MICA Graduate Student, Ashley Dehoyos Curates TRACES, Ni de aquí, Ni de allá

UALP Fellow & MICA Graduate Student, Ashley Dehoyos curates TRACES, Ni de aquí, Ni de allá (neither here, nor there). TRACES, Ni de aquí, Ni de allá will open in conjunction with MICA Grad Show Openings at Maryland Institute College of Art and Alloverstreet in Station North Arts and Entertainment District.

In partnership with Area 405, TRACES, Ni de aquí, Ni de allá will run from April 1- 22. Centered in Baltimore, a city too often defined by a limited, black-and-white conversation with regard to identity, TRACES intends to broaden the parameters of this conversation with timely and relevant identity issues of the Latin American community.

TRACES, Ni de aquí, Ni de allá reflects cultural complexities of Latinidad and examines the aesthetic values and characteristics of producing work under the Latin American umbrella. Featuring the work of ten artists currently living in Maryland, Virginia, Texas, and Pennsylvania with diverse familia heritage across the Latin American diaspora–from Mexico, El Salvador, Puerto Rico, Panama, California, and New York.

Through visual art and performance, TRACES unpacks the connections between one’s environment, heritage, and experience. Using digital media, photography, sculpture, fiber, and other approaches, the artists investigate traces of their own histories and influences in relation to current art trends. By shining light on the emerging Latin American population and contemporary art scene, TRACES aims to facilitate needed discourse around the Latin American experience in the United States and issues relating to cultural essentialism, acculturation, and assimilation.

Thinking about the accepted norms and distorted influence of the Western lens on arts and culture, TRACES questions and confronts the Eurocentric standards and expectations too often placed on Latin American artists.

“Many of the artists in this exhibition come from places where they have had to fight against stereotypes or lean into them while producing work,” notes curator Ashley DeHoyos. “Still, they manage to present a unique perspective on the world, one that reflects diverse heritage and artistic practices.”

An opening reception for TRACES, Ni de aquí, Ni de allá will be held at Area 405 on Friday, April 1 at 7:00 pm. Live performances by Krissty Batres and Nicoletta de La Brown will take place from 7:30 pm to 8:30 pm.

Curator Ashley D. DeHoyos was born and raised in Baytown, a small town near Houston, Texas, and currently resides in Baltimore, Maryland. She is a MFA candidate in Curatorial Practices Candidate at Maryland Institute College of Art and holds a BFA in Photography with a minor in Art History from Sam Houston State University. Ms. Dehoyos recently served as a graduate curatorial intern at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, provided through ArtTable’s Divshley has a passion for art, community engagement and working with contemporary artists. For the past year-and-a-half, she has been researching and developing TRACES, Ni de aquí, Ni de allá as part of her curatorial thesis.