CARSON, Calif. – The masterworks of nine prominent women photographers of Mexico will be on display during the exhibit, “El ojo fino/The Exquisite Eye,” in the University Art Gallery of California State University, Dominguez Hills from Feb. 5 through March 4, 2004. The exhibit will open with a reception on Feb. 5 from 6 – 8 p.m. and a gallery tour led by Margarita Nieto, Ph.D., professor of Chicana/Chicano Studies, CSU Northridge, at 7 p.m.
El ojo fino/The Exquisite Eye” features works from: Lola Álvarez Bravo, Kati Horna, Mariana Yampolsky, Graciela Iturbide, Flor Garduño, Yolanda Andrade, Alicia Ahumada Salaíz, Ángeles Torrejón and Maya Goded. These artists from three generations have collectively reached across the 20th century to confront us with the essentials of life. They all live in or near Mexico City. Many of the women are friends or acquaintances, though Bravo, Horna and Yampolsky have passed away.
Each photographer is an accomplished artist in her own right, with a body of work well able to stand on its own, but the kinship among them is particularly striking when their photographs are seen together. Because each generation of photographers mentored the next, their images have an extensive aesthetic connection – little homages here and there, borrowed elements, overlapping spiritual territory, similar lives.
From Lola Álvarez Bravo, one of the most prominent of the first generation of women photographers in Mexico, to Graciela Iturbide, with an international reputation as one of Mexico””””s premier contemporary photographers, this tour presents the work of a unique sisterhood of artists made available for the first time to venues across America.
“El ojo fino/The Exquisite Eye” is curated by Connie Todd, curator of the Wittliff Gallery of Southwestern and Mexican Photography at Texas State University in San Marcos, where the exhibition enjoyed a successful run in 2000. The exhibition is organized by the Wittliff Gallery and toured by ExhibitsUSA. ExhibitsUSA provides access to an array of arts and humanities exhibitions, nurtures the development and understanding of diverse art forms and cultures, and encourages the expanding depth and breadth of cultural life in local communities. ExhibitsUSA is a national division of Mid-America Arts Alliance, a private, nonprofit organization founded in 1972.
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“El ojo fino/The Exquisite Eye” is made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Presentation of this exhibit at the University Art Gallery, CSU Dominguez Hills, is sponsored by the City of Carson Fine Arts and Historical Commission.
The exhibition continues through March 4, 2004. Admission is free to all gallery events. The gallery is open 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through Thursday. Cal State Dominguez Hills is located at 1000 E. Victoria Street in the City of Carson near the junction of the Harbor, Artesia and San Diego freeways. Visitor parking permits may be purchased for $2 at the yellow dispensing machines at the front of each campus lot.