Heriberto Quiroz Selected for Emerging Lens Program
On January 14th, Columbia College Chicago Photography senior Heriberto Quiroz debuted a series of photographs for the exhibition Sustenance: Chicago and the Food Chain at ART WORKS Projects for Human Rights. Quiroz was the first young photographer selected for ART WORKS’ new Emerging Lens Program, an annual exhibition opportunity for a young photographer focused on documenting human rights and social justice challenges. The exhibition ran from January 14th through February 28th at ART WORKS, located at 625 N. Kingsbury St.
Quiroz came to Columbia from Juarez High School in Pilsen, one of the schools affiliated with Columbia’s Museum of Contemporary Photography’s teaching artist programs. It was during this program that Quiroz began documenting Pilsen and he has built a substantial body of work since then. Corinne Rose, manager of education with MoCP, described working with Quiroz as seeing a student transformed by the arts. Quiroz found inspiration in the work of Columbia Photography Professor Paul D’Amato who has also spent the past fifteen years documenting Mexican-American community living in Pilsen.
For Sustenance, Quiroz spent several weeks following the food shopping habits of one family. This kind of delicate documentary process is not new for Quiroz, whose work focuses mainly on the people of his Pilsen neighborhood. He said that documenting family trips to the grocery store as well as the children in school was meant to serve as background leading up to a special family meal with a relative visiting from Mexico. From beginning to end, the series visually investigates the Mexican-American experience of living and raising a family in an area of the city with challenging access to groceries.
“We're particularly proud to be working with Heriberto on this project,” said Leslie Thomas, Executive Director of ART WORKS. “Most of our initiatives are done in collaboration with very well-established photographers who bring their deep experience in documenting conflict, social justice issues and human rights abuses to projects and we are honored to present their work to international audiences. With this new series, we have a chance to see the world through a young person's lens and show viewers what the world looks like at the start of a career. We trust that Heriberto will be showing us his take on the world for many years to come.”
More information about Quiroz’s exhibition can be found on the ART WORKS website here.
See Quiroz’s online photography portfolio here.