Espe Pons - Exhibition Tour with the Artist
300 Washington Ave. S.E.
Minneapolis,
MN
55455
Reception following tour at 108 Folwell Hall
The Office of Student Unions and Activities, the CLA Interdisciplinary Collaborative Workshop on “Memory, Trauma, and Human Rights at the Crossroads of Art and Science,” and the Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies invite students of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies on a guided exhibition tour with the artist, photographer Espe Pons, of her photography exhibit “Mirrors of Oblivion.”
About the Artist
Espe Pons is a freelance photographer. She specializes in reportage and artistic photography, with an emphasis on memory and landscape. She has exhibited her work at numerous festivals and galleries around the world. In 2019 she was selected for an artist-in-residence program at Three Shadows Photography Art Center in Beijing, China. She has published three photobooks: Under the light of the sea (2021), Tierra (2023), and Flucht (2023). Tierra was finalist for The Book Awards, in Les Prix du Livre, Arles, France (2023).
The Exhibition
“Mirrors of Oblivion” brings together two photographic essays by Catalan photographer Espe Pons: Sota la llum del mar (Under the Light of the Sea) (2019) and Tierra (Earth) (2023). Both are part of a long-term research/art project by the artist though which she explores a personal history of trauma and traces collective memory in Spain, all while working to dignify the victims of the mass violence imposed throughout the country by the fascist military regime of Francisco Franco (1939-1975) after the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). Her projects reflect on Spain’s unfinished business, as hundreds of unmarked, mass graves containing the bodies of thousands of people killed by Franco’s regime are still scattered throughout the country and true accountability for the crimes of the regime remains elusive.
The CLA Interdisciplinary Collaborative Workshop on “Memory, Trauma, and Human Rights at the Crossroads of Art and Science” seeks to better understand the impacts of traumatic memory upon individuals and societies and to critically engage the issues of how we come to terms with and heal from trauma, seek accountability for human rights abuses that led to severe trauma, and mitigate future traumatization. The workshop explores the long-term effects of traumatic experiences as varied as war and dictatorship, terrorist attacks and state terrorism, genocide, captivity, and sexual abuse, with the understanding that an interdisciplinary understanding of memory and traumatization can illuminate the pathways between artistic production and healing.
Co-sponsored by the Office of Student Unions and Activities (A Unit of Student Affairs), the Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies, the College of Liberal Arts (Interdisciplinary Collaborative Workshop), and the Institute for Advanced Study.