Art on Hulfish: Exhibition Preview: Christina Fernandez: Multiple Exposures

Christina Fernandez: Multiple Exposures
February 10—April 28, 2024

Opening in February at Art on Hulfish is a survey of work by Christina Fernandez, a Los Angeles—based artist who has spent more than thirty years conducting a rich exploration of migration, labor, and gender through her photography. The exhibition's title, Multiple Exposures, refers not only to a photographic technique but also to the artist's revealing of that which is often hidden away, including fraught racial histories and the mistreatment of vulnerable communities. Whether staged or candid, Fernandez's photographs record touch and mark making, engaging the medium's distinct ability to convey surfaces‚—the surfaces of bodies, architecture, and the images themselves. Multiple Exposures traces the development of the artist's work from the late 1980s to the present.

Deeply committed to interrogating her identity as an artist, a woman, and a Chicana, Fernandez embraces portraiture, landscape, performance, and urban tableaux in her photographs. Raised in a family of Chicano activists, she credits this early foundation as having a strong influence on her work: her projects address issues such as labor exploitation, her Mexican American identity, and the effects of the boom and bust of the real estate market. The widely acclaimed installation María's Great Expedition 
(1995—96), for example, chronicles key moments in the life of the artist's maternal great-grandmother, María Gonzales. But while Fernandez's subject matter is topical, she does not employ a photojournalistic style. Rather, she approaches her work through formal investigations that question the capacity of photography to fully convey these stories. Her layered pictures obscure even as they document, exploring critical issues in contemporary society even as they complicate our view.

Princeton University Art Museum Winter 2024 Magazine