Counter Histories (Group Exhibition)
EXHIBITION OF WORKS BY TAMARA ABDUL HADI, ALAN CHIN, NAOMIEH JOVIN, AND QIANA MESTRICH
Opening Reception: Thursday May 18, 2023 | 7 - 9 PM (RSVP)
Exhibition Open Hours: May 25 - July 27, 2023 | Thursdays, 3 - 6 PM
Location: Magnum Foundation, 59 East 4th St, 7W | New York, NY 10003
Image: Qiana Mestrich. From the series, Reinforcements, 2023.Magnum Foundation’s Counter Histories Initiative supports visual storytellers that creatively reframe the past to engage with urgent questions of the present and future. The program continues Magnum Foundation’s long-standing commitment to reframe and confront dominant histories through inserting alternative narratives and conceiving inclusive archives for the future.
Beginning in 2022, MF supported an intergenerational and transnational cohort of twenty photographers who are collectively exploring ways to intervene critically into the existing visual landscape of archives and memory.
Featuring four artists from the larger cohort this Counter Histories exhibition incorporates bodies of work that began with an investigation into personal and familial histories. Each artist’s engagement of found archives prompted interventions into gaps in historical and familial records in order to create more inclusive, nuanced depictions of place, cultures, and community.
Qiana Metrich will present work from @WorkingWOC, An independent, multimedia archive that visualizes the labor history of Black women and women of color—especially those who are immigrants—in America’s workplace.
Tamara Abdul Hadi will present her project, Re-Imagining Return to the Marshes. Part archival, part storytelling, and part community engagement, this project asks: can histories be colonized even in imagination?
Alan Chin will present a series titled, Chinese-American Family Albums. A community sourced archive that explores how immigrant families—including Chin’s own—use photography to maintain connections, pass on traditions, and highlight the extraordinary courage, faith, and fortitude in their everyday lives.
Naomieh Jovin‘s project explores archival photos of Jovin’s mother parallel to original works, Jovin emphasizes a spiritual connection between her familial history and present self.