ARTIST STATEMENT
BEFORE. AFTER.
IT'S EASY TO SPLIT MY LIFE INTO TWO HALVES, PITTING THE PERSON I WAS BEFORE 2020 AGAINST THE PERSON I AM NOW. BUT I'VE COME TO REALIZE IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO SEPARATE THE TWO. THEY ARE BOTH ME.
THE PAST TWO YEARS HAVE BEEN, IN A WORD, RUTHLESS. THE EARLY DAYS OF THE PANDEMIC HIT MY FAMILY HARD. THEN, I WAS DIAGNOSED WITH STAGE 4 CANCER. IT WASN'T UNTIL I TOOK A STEP AWAY FROM MY TREATMENT THAT I WAS ABLE TO SHIFT MY PERSPECTIVE FROM TRAUMA AND PAIN TO A RENEWED ZEST FOR LIFE, AND THE LITTLE THINGS.
BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE NOT THEIR STRUGGLES.
MY STRUGGLE IS THERE, BEHIND EACH PHOTOGRAPH, BUT THE IMAGES THEMSELVES EVOKE FULFILLMENT AND PEACE. EACH A REMINDER THAT I CAN'T CONTROL WHAT LIFE THROWS AT ME, BUT I CAN CONTROL HOW I SEE THINGS- AND WHAT I SHOW THE WORLD.
THIS IS LIFE. AFTER.
-JORGE A. GARCIA
CURATOR'S STATEMENT
THERE IS AN AWARENESS OF TIME IN JORGE GARCIA'S WORK THAT CONJURES OUR COLLECTIVE MEMORIES OF ISOLATION AND TRAGEDY, BUT HIS PHOTOGRAPHY NEVER LOSES ITS HUMOR.
IT IS A TIME CAPSULE, A GET WELL CARD TO HIMSELF, AND AN EPIC FUCK YOU TO THE BIG C'S: COVID. CANCER.
HIS FIRST SOLO SHOW, LIFE. AFTER., WAS INTENDED TO BE DIVIDED INTO PARTS: BEFORE HIS DIAGNOSIS, AND AFTER. BUT AS I WAS CURATING THE SHOW, I REALIZED THAT THEY ARE TWO PARTS OF THE SAME WHOLE.
HIS STUNNING WORK CAPTURES WHAT CHANGES IN THE FACE OF LOSS-BUT ALSO, WHAT STAYS THE SAME: HUMANITY, COMMUNITY, AND HOME.
IN THE FACE OF ADVERSITY, GARCIA FORGED A PATH. HE FOUND HIS PURPOSE, HIS VOICE, HIS LIGHT.
GARCIA'S PHOTOGRAPHS EVOKE A LONELINESS, AND A STILLNESS, BUT ALSO A BITTERSWEET MOMENT OF SONDER- THE PROFOUND REALIZATION THAT EACH OF HIS SUBJECTS HAS AN EXISTENCE AS RICH AND COMPLEX AS OUR OWN.
-ALFONSO GOMEZ REJON