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Citlali Fabián, Anton Gautama, Daniel Handal, Krista Svalbonas

On view: February 20–May 30, 2021
At various locations in Arts District Houston

Home and the people who live there is a meditation on the concepts of home and community, featuring artists included in the FotoFest 2020 Biennial exhibition Ten by Ten: Ten Reviewers Select Ten Portfolios from the Meeting Place 2018. For the artists, home is not simply a place, but rather a space of belonging, where the intimate and personal are the fabric of everyday life. The artists turn their lenses toward the various aspects that comprise the architecture of such a place: personal histories, friendships, kinships through community, support and acceptance.

For her series Mestiza (2014–18), artist Citlali Fabián created collaborative portraits with women from her inner circle, her mother, relatives, and friends as a way to explore their identity and ancestral heritage. To create these portraits, Fabián utilized a nineteenth-century photographic process known as ambrotype in order to confront and challenge the colonial photographic histories that seek to capture and contain indigenous narratives, identities, and culture. Home Sweet Home (2016–17) by Anton Gautama is a documentary photographic series comprised of interior views of the live/work spaces of Indo-Chinese migrant families living in Southeast Asia. Gautama’s works highlight the ways in which a migrant’s diasporic traditions become enmeshed with national identity by drawing attention to domestic spaces where commercial business is conducted and that are filled with both Chinese and Indonesian artifacts, décor, and cultural objects. Gautama’s images ask the viewer to consider how these spaces reflect the lives of those who dwell in them and the ways cultural identity is formed and reformed by migration. Daniel Handal’s colorful series Pajaritos (2016–18) borrows its name from a pejorative term used in Latin America to demean and belittle the queer community by referring to gay men as “birdies.” Handal rejects the derogatory nature of this expression in Pajaritos, reclaiming the word as an expression of endearment through his photographic portraits of dazzling tropical songbirds positioned against pastel hues of pinks, blues, yellows, and greens. Handal’s treatment of the songbirds accentuates each bird’s unique features and prideful posture to suggest that these exceptional differences are essential components of a beautiful and powerful community. Artist Krista Svalbonas’s series What Remains (2020–) is comprised of black and white architectural photographs of Soviet-era residential buildings in Latvia and Lithuania overlain with traditional Baltic textile patterns. Weaving these patterns was an important and defiant act during Soviet occupation, done despite the regime’s attempts to suppress Baltic cultures. By juxtaposing the textile patterns with Soviet structures, Svalbonas proposes that the forced imposition of politically-motivated cultural ideology is oppressive, leaving little room for personal and traditional expression. For the artist, the textiles are a reminder of the ways in which those who are forced to live within strict political boundaries can resist hegemony and hold on to their personal cultural identities.

Home and the people who live there offers an opportunity to reflect on themes of domestic life, community, and place at a time when these concepts have been redefined by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. The exhibition features four photo-murals from each of the above-mentioned series. 

LOCATIONS

Home and the people who live there is presented on the facades of buildings located in Arts District Houston. Citlali Fabián’s work is on view at the FotoFest headquarters building located at 2000 Edwards Street. Anton Gautama’s work is on view at the corner of Edwards Street and Silver Street. Daniel Handal’s work can be seen by visiting 1818 Washington Avenue. Krista Svalbonas’s work is presented on Sawyer Road, and mappable by routing your trip to 2431 Summer Street. 

Public Life: Home and the people who live there is accompanied by a self-guided tour that can be followed on foot or by car via FotoFest’s new mobile app. To download, search “FotoFest” on the mobile app store on your phone.

Public-Life_Map-for-home
The Dining Room

Anton Gautama, The Dining Room, 2017. Archival pigment print. Courtesy the artist.

EVENTS 

Saturday, February 20 | 12PM
Virtual Exhibition Tour with Steven Evans and Max Fields

Wednesday, March 10 | 6PM
Creative Conversations/digital: Citlali Fabián with James Estrin

Wednesday, March 24 | 6PM
Creative Conversations/digital: Daniel Handal with Karen Haas

Wednesday, May 22 | 12PM
Creative Conversations/digital: Krista Svalbonas with Peggy Sue Amison

Wednesday, June 23 | 12PM
The Work of Anton Gautama with Celina Lunsford and Paula Tognarelli

All events held in conjunction with Public Life: Home and the people who live there are open to the public and free to attend with prior registration. All FotoFest programs are available to watch online via Zoom or YouTube Live.

2020-2021 EXHIBITION SPONSORS

PUBLIC LIFE

Major funding for the Public Life project is provided by the Texas Commission on the Arts.

Exhibition support is also provided by The Brown Foundation, Inc.; Houston Endowment; National Endowment for the Arts; City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance; The Wortham Foundation; Silver Street Studios; Sawyer Yards; Pappas Restaurants; Lovett Commercial; and generous donors to the FotoFest Annual Fund.

MAJOR INSTITUTIONAL AND INDIVIDUAL SUPPORT 

The Brown Foundation, Inc.; Houston Endowment; National Endowment for the Arts; Texas Commission on the Arts; City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance; Phillip and Edith Leonian Foundation; The Powell Foundation; The Wortham Foundation; WWW Foundation; Robert Rauschenberg Foundation; Judith and Gamble Baldwin; Wendy Watriss and Frederick Baldwin; Katy and Michael A. Casey; Martha and David Moore; Nina and Michael Zilkha; The FotoFest Board of Directors;   Silver Street Studios; iLand Cloud Services;  and generous donors to the FotoFest Annual Fund.

FOTOFEST MOBILE APP

Support for the FotoFest App provided by Ken Anderson, Frederick Baldwin and Wendy Watriss, Kath Blanco, Thomas Damsgaard, Masud Haq, Carola Herrin, Bill Joor, Abigail Owen-Pontez, Greg Spier, and Phuong Tranvan.