Muriel Hasbun
si je meurs / if I die
November 5-December 18, 2022
Throughout her career, Muriel Hasbun has used the medium of photography to investigate issues of identity, memory and inter-subjectivity. Her unique vision creates a dialogue between the past and the present—between personal memory and collective history—sparking provocative questions about identity, cultural memory and place. Hasbun grew up in El Salvador during a time of strife, within a Salvadoran/Palestinian Christian and Polish/French Jewish family. Much of her work explores her family’s complex history, with its various exiles and diasporas, re-constructing a vanished world haunted by trauma and loss. An extended portrait, si je meurs / if I die evokes a subjective, diasporic space that balances absence and presence. The artist pays homage to her mother, Janine Janowski, to construct her own sense of identity that alludes to the legacy she left behind. In general, the photographs offer an intimate perspective into the historically significant, public narrative of Janine’s life as a cultural promoter and founder of the renowned Galería el laberinto in El Salvador during that country’s brutal civil war and its aftermath.
Muriel Hasbun’s expertise as an artist and as an educator focuses on issues of cultural identity, migration and memory. Through an intergenerational, transnational, and transcultural lens, Hasbun constructs contemporary narratives and establishes a space for dialogue where individual and collective memory spark new questions about identity and place. Hasbun is the recipient of numerous distinctions, including the 2021-22 Estelle Lebowitz Endowed Visiting Artist at Rutgers University, a FY21 AHCMC Artist & Scholar Grant, 2020 Sondheim and 2019 Trawick Prize Finalist, a 2019 Archive Transformed CU Boulder Artist/Scholar Collaborative Residency, and Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Awards in Media (2019 and 2008). Visit the artist’s website to learn more.
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Identity Formations
Identity Formations features three artists who explore the fertile intersections of Latino/a/x identity through the fluid boundaries of history, culture, and geography. In si je meurs/If I die, Muriel Hasbun employs photography to capture the enduring legacy of her mother, investigating issues of identity, memory, and inter-subjectivity. In Recent Works, Julio Valdez uses water as a metaphor for consciousness, revealing the self as imperfect and transient. In Soy Yo—I’m Me, Ric Garcia examines identity through reimagined representations of Americana to share and better understand his bicultural experiences.
Together, the diverse works presented by these three artists utilize techniques that vary in style and complexity. What they share is a richness of vision and a passion for self-discovery that reside within the liminal spaces of being and becoming.
