Press Release

Zoe Leonard’s Al río / To the River opens this weekend at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (MCA Australia), the first major exhibition of the internationally renowned artist’s work in the Southern Hemisphere.

Over a period of five years, beginning in 2016, Zoe Leonard (b. 1961, Liberty, US) photographed along the 2,000 km stretch where the Rio Grande/Río Bravo is used to demarcate the international boundary between Mexico and the United States, following the river from the border cities of Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, and El Paso, Texas, to the Gulf of Mexico.

International Archives 2nd half of 2023

Zoe Leonard, Al Rio /To the river

Museum of Contemorary Art Australia, Sydney (Australia)

11.08 - 05.11.2023

Précédent Suivant

Français

Deutsch

Epic in scale, Al río / To the River results from close observation of both the natural and built environments shaped by and surrounding the river; from desert and mountains to cities, towns and small villages where daily life unfolds in tandem with agriculture, commerce, industry, policing, and surveillance.

While the exhibition is anchored to the geographic, social, economic and political realities of this extended region of the Americas, Leonard’s visual meditation on the river resonates with the urgent subjects of borders and migration around the world. Al río / To the River engages with conversations happening in Australia and elsewhere about the impact of human industry and commerce on the natural world, climate change and colonialism on First Nations communities.

The exhibition is curated by Suzanne Cotter, Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia and MCA Australia Curator Megan Robson. Designer Marcos Corrales Lantero, a long-time collaborator of the artist, was commissioned to create the exhibition design.

Al río / To the River draws our attention to the impossibility of binary thinking in a world defined by complexity and in need of empathy.

Publication

The exhibition is accompanied by a two-volume publication designed by Joseph Logan and published by Mudam Luxembourg – Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean / Hatje Cantz, Berlin. Presented in their own slipcase, the first volume features Zoe Leonard’s photographs, while the second, edited by Tim Johnson, with a preface by MCA Australia Director Suzanne Cotter and Fabrice Hergott, Director of the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, brings together written contributions from 25 international artists, journalists, poets and scholars.

Zoe Leonard: Al río / To the River is organised by the MCA Australia in association with Mudam Luxembourg – Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean and the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, Paris Musées.

Exhibition 11 August - 05 November 2023. Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Circular Quay West, 140 George Street - Sydney NSW 2000 (Australia). T +61 2 9245 2400. Hours: Wednesday–Monday 10am–5pm, Friday 10am–9pm

Zoe Leonard, Al río / To the River (detail), 2016–2022. Gelatin silver prints, C-prints and inkjet prints. Production supported by Mudam Luxembourg – Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, Paris Musées, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, Galerie Gisela Capitain and Hauser & Wirth. Image courtesy of the artist, Galerie Gisela Capitain, and Hauser & Wirth. © Zoe Leonard.