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En Foco Executive Director Miriam Romais and Program Director Marisol Díaz
Photo: © Bonnie Portelance, 2005
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En Foco Founding Members circa 1974
(top left - right): Charles Biasiny-Rivera,
Roger Caban, George Malave
(bottom left - right): Phil Dante, Nestor Cortijo
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En Foco is a non-profit organization that nurtures
and supports contemporary fine art and documentary photographers
of diverse cultures, primarily U.S. residents of Latino, African
and Asian heritage, and Native Peoples of the Americas and the Pacific.
For over 30 years, it has been in the forefront of documenting
the artistic journeys created by artists often overlooked by the
mainstream art world. Through our visual arts programs, including
Nueva Luz photographic journal, artists are free to explore
or reinvent cultural traditions, challenge preconceived notions,
and engage audiences in a manner that honors all.
In Solidarity,
Miriam Romais,
Executive Director
From the Co-Founder
Since 1974 we have been bringing photographers
and their work into focus to an ever-increasing and knowledgeable
audience.
We started out as a handful of New York Puerto Rican photographers,
displaying our work at summer block parties in the South Bronx, neighborhood
bodegas, and coffee houses in Greenwich Village.
Those early days were filled with excitement, hardly anyone was acquainted
with Latino photographers, but we worked hard to establish our own
visual identity. A few years later, we embraced photographers from
all the cultures of color in the U.S.
Since then, we have witnessed artists of African, Asian, Latino, Native
American and Pacific Islander heritage boldly moving forward, presenting
themselves as authentic and valuable creators of American art.
En Foco celebrates the courage, talent and tenacity of the many artists
it has helped become more visible, and looks forward to a new millennium
of acceptance that will acknowledge the treasures of its communities.
On behalf of En Foco, bienvenidos a todos. I hope you share your talents,
ideas and spirit with us.
Charles Biasiny-Rivera,
Executive Director Emeritus
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