Nueva Luz Issue 27.2 – New Works Issue

Featured artists: Terry Boddie, André Cypriano, Koyoltzintli, Paccarik Orue, and Wendy Phillips

Curated and essay by: Tarisse Iriarte

Essays by: Miriam Romais & Oscar J. Rivera

En Foco is pleased to announce the fall/winter issue of Nueva Luz featuring five photographers who were previous New Works awardees, a program that began in 1996 (now the En Foco Photography Fellowship).

Organized by En Foco’s Curator-At-Large Tarisse Iriarte, this issue of Nueva Luz focuses on En Foco’s efforts to activate its Archives, this issue highlights past participants of the New Works Program. Working in diverse photographic mediums, including cyanotypes, tintypes, mixed media, collage, color film, and gelatin silver prints on paper and fiber, the work of Terry Boddie, André Cypriano, Koyoltzintli, Paccarik Orue, and Wendy Phillips engage the themes of memory and migration in different ways.

Nueva Luz: New Works draws from the wealth of artists in the New Works award that spanned 1996 to 2014, a program that was designed to offer financial and professional resources to photographers of color in order to support their creative practices. As former executive director Miriam Romais writes: “Unlike many other competitions at the time, it [New Works] was free to enter and provided an honorarium, our staff’s professional support as thought-partners as needed. . . It was intended to spotlight underrecognized and undervalued photographers of historically-neglected communities who were creating work that fell outside of commercial mainstream art trends.”

Two essays complement the work: “New Works: a light that shines” by Miriam Romais chronicles Ms. Romais’s time on staff at En Foco, providing a first-person account on the development of the New Works program. “Cultural Archives and Community Legacies” by Oscar J. Rivera reflects on the function and power of community archives as well as the effect of exclusionary practices. 

In 2016, the New Works award transitioned into what is now the En Foco Photography Fellowship, an annual award given to ten artists who are provided with a feature in this magazine, an exhibition, and an honorarium, continuing the original goals of New Works. 

Purchase Options