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Artist Talk: María Magdalena Campos-Pons Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art

Salt Lake City – The Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA) presents a free public talk by artist María Magdalena Campos-Pons on Friday, April 10, at 5 pm in the Katherine W. and Ezekiel R. Dumke Jr. Auditorium. Campos-Pons is one of more than 60 leading modern and contemporary Latino artists featured in Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art, currently on view at the UMFA. Before the talk, visitors will have a free hour of access to the Our America exhibition starting at 4 pm.

Born in Matanzas, Cuba, in 1959, María Magdalena Campos-Pons relocated to the United States when she was 27, but her artwork is still influenced by her African and Latin heritage. In her work, themes of absence, loss and displacement are often present, sometimes represented by dreamlike waterscapes reminiscent of the vast oceans that separate families and cultures. Though her practice incorporates painting, sculpture, performance and installation, Campos-Pons is best known for her large-scale Polaroid photographs.

Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art is a landmark exhibition highlighting the varied and deep links between Latino art and U.S. history, culture and art through work created since the 1950s, when the concept of a collective Latino identity began to emerge.

Sponsorship

Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art is organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Generous support for the exhibition has been provided by Altria Group, the Honorable Aida M. Alvarez, Judah Best, The James F. Dicke Family Endowment, Sheila Duignan and Mike Wilkins, Tania and Tom Evans, Friends of the National Museum of the American Latino, The Michael A. and the Honorable Marilyn Logsdon Mennello Endowment, Henry R. Muñoz III, Wells Fargo, and Zions Bank. Additional significant support was provided by The Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center. Support for Treasures to Go, the Museum’s traveling exhibition program, comes from The C.F. Foundation, Atlanta, Georgia.

The UMFA exhibition is presented by Zions Bank. Major sponsors: S. J. and Jessie E. Quinney Foundation and the Ray, Quinney & Nebeker Foundation. Supporting sponsor: Wells Fargo. In-kind sponsor: Red Iguana. Community partner: Artes de México en Utah. Media sponsor: El Semanal.

For More Information

Please visit umfa.utah.edu/ouramerica. Follow @utahmuseumfinearts on Facebook, @umfa on Twitter and @utahmuseumoffinearts on Instagram. Subscribe to the Museum’s e-mail newsletter at umfa.utah.edu/umfa_updates