Alex Morel: Relaciones & Relatos / Relations & Tales

October 8, 2012 – January 5, 2013
Pregones Theater
571 – 575 Walton Avenue
Bronx, NY 10451

STATEMENT
The subject of attention in this work has been mainly my extended family, including intimate friends, and places of relevance to my experience or the history of those close to me. But more than a story or chronicle of their lives or mine, my concerns lay in areas of interpersonal relationships, emotional and physical distance, the psychological effect of spaces and environments surrounding us, and the awareness of the present at any given moment. While deeply personal, the series as a whole addresses other issues like the perception of time, migration, geographic and cultural connections, displacement, evolution of identity, and gender roles. The length of time and geographic coverage, as well as the greater ambition of the project, has made this body of work quite substantial in terms of imagery and scope.

I have been immersed in this work and photographing those who are, and what is, close to me from 1994 until this day. By now, the family is largely spread across generations, and over an area that goes from the Caribbean across the United States and into Canada. While we have been fortunate to maintain strong family ties, I can’t help to notice the slow but inevitable dilution of these relationships as a result of distances, differences in environments and the cultural upbringing of younger generations, language, economics, and more. This experience, I am sure, is similar to that of many American families with ties to not only Latin America but also many other parts of the world.

Read more about Alex HERE.