On View
February 04 -
April 12, 2026
Patricia and Phillip Frost Art Museum
The exhibition Grit & Grain: Four Decades of Lens-Based Practice at FIU brings together lens-based works by FIU alumni—many acquired through the Betty Laird Perry Award—alongside photographs by faculty to examine the lasting influence of the university’s photography program. Grounded in a teaching approach that emphasized intuition, close looking, and the artist as a critical witness, the program shaped generations of photographers studying under figures such as Ed Del Valle, Mirta Gómez, William Maguire, and Peggy Nolan, among others. In placing alumni and faculty work in dialogue, the exhibition traces a shared commitment to sharpening the artist’s eye and voice. Together, these works form a vignette not only of South Florida, but of artists’ lives more broadly, with an attentiveness to place, experience, and the act of seeing as both personal and taught.
I’m grateful to have one of my collaborative works with GisMo included in this exhibition. Buscando Wenupau from 2008 has come full circle to the place where the ideas for this series began. It’s wonderful to be able to share my work alongside that of my peers, teachers and mentors at FIU.