Reconciliation in the Search for Home :: Francis Almendárez

On view:  May 8th – June 27th

Opening Reception:  Saturday May 8th from 6:00 – 9:00 PM Daily hours: Tuesday – Friday by appointment, Saturday and Sunday 12:00-5:00

ABOUT

In our imagining of home, we live with and make sense of how location, family, and identity intersect, comprising a physical and mental space of refuge and community. Reconciliation in the Search for Home brings an array of works together including video and performance to unpack and explore the formation of identity in relation to migration and place. The exhibition connects seemingly disparate works through reflection and writing, in a way that demonstrates the simultaneity and multiplicity that is inherited and shared by diasporic communities. For the opening, there will be a live collaborative performance 2,147 miles showcasing improvisational and experimental music. Drawing from lived experiences, the aural and textual will merge with the visual creating a space where displacement, migration, and time are reconsidered as agents of autonomy, self-discovery, and healing. Performers include brothers Francis and Anthony Almendárez, along with…

Bios

Francis Almendárez is an artist, filmmaker, and educator working at the intersections of history, (auto)ethnography, and cultural production. He uses these as tools to address memory and trauma, in an attempt to make sense of and reconstruct cultural and diasporic identity. His work has been presented locally and internationally including Aurora Picture Show; Artpace, San Antonio; Blaffer Art Museum; Houston Center for Photography; San Antonio Museum of Art; El Museo del Barrio, New York; and National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts. Almendárez is the recipient of an Artadia Award, the Carol Crow Memorial Fellowship, and artist grants from Y.ES Contemporary and the City of Houston. Writing on his work has been featured in D Magazine, spot Magazine, Artforum, Glasstire, and Dallas Morning News among others. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Almendárez is currently based in Houston, TX where he is a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Houston School of Art. He received his MFA (with Distinction) from Goldsmiths, University of London and BFA in Sculpture/New Genres from Otis College of Art and Design.

Anthony Almendárez is an artist and educator working in music composition, sound, noise, improvisation, and performance. Through his work he explores new modes of storytelling that challenge the hierarchy between our aural and visual senses, and shift our attention towards histories and collective memories of communities thriving along the margins of society. His work has been featured at venues and festivals including Aurora Picture Show; Nameless Sound, Houston, TX; Artpace, San Antonio, TX; Lawndale Art Center, Houston, TX; Wheaton Biennial, Norton, MA; No.Estación.Arte, Mexico City, Mexico; seensound: visual/music; Melbourne, Australia; EchoFlux 19, Prague, Czech Republic; and Conservatoire Maurice Ravel, Paris, France among others. He is the recipient of numerous awards including artist grants from Y.ES Contemporary and the City of Houston. Almendárez was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA and is currently based in Houston, TX. He received a BA in Music Education from CSU Dominguez Hills, an MA in Music Theory and Composition from Marshall University, and is currently a candidate for the MFA in Sound Art at Bard College.