Meet the Queer Artist Challenging Latino Masculinity Through Collage

I stand here, like the sun that frightens the cold/Aquí me paró, como el sol que asusta el frío, is an exhibition of photographic collages and mixed media works by artist Antonio Pulgarin. The show is Pulgarin’s first solo exhibition in New York City and is organized with guest curator Edwin Ramoran. The exhibition is currently on view from October 30 to December 4, 2019 at Kingsborough Art Museum. 

Antonio Pulgarin is a Colombian-American Lens-Based Artist who utilizes photography, photographic collage and mixed media to create conceptually focused works that tackle the themes of cultural and queer identity, memory, and displacement.

Pulgarin says that the work utilizes the family archive, patterned fabrics and additional printed source materials. As well as elements of nostalgia, personal narrative- relating to his heritage, and notions of masculinity are all present. He aims to ensure that the collaged elements remind the viewer that these images have been intervened, brought to the present and reimagined. 

Through this work, Pulgarin says he is seeking to challenge the construct of Latino masculinity, through re-contextualizing the fabric of his own identity and excavating his own personal family history. Each image in this series presents a deconstructed version of the original archival images as he has interpreted them, incorporating culturally specific materials as well as the colors of the Colombian and the Dominican flag.

And place an emphasis on the fragmented relationship he shares with both his culture and these central figures in his life.