NADA Curated by Fitsum Shebeshe

Mexican-American artist Paulina Freifeld (1998) studies her great-grandfather’s photographic archive, looking back at their early years as immigrants in Mexico and re-contextualizing her family history. Freifeld distorts and fragments the images through painting, relating their past experiences to her current realities. ‘El peso del peligro’ features the artist’s father as a child, depicted twice: once in a poolside setting, and again wearing a striped shirt. Freifeld situates these images within a nostalgic backdrop that references the beaches in Quintana Roo that her family would often visit during their early years in Mexico. However, she also incorporates the same image that the government has placed on the 20-peso bill, thereby referencing one of Mexico’s iconic yet endangered ecosystems.