Ithaca College

Please join us at the Handwerker Gallery for a talk with exhibiting photographer Mercedes Dorame on Friday, February 27, at 4 pm.  Ms. Dorame will speak about her work on view at the gallery in the exhibition ORIGIN STORIES: Altar Apparitions, and to discuss the conceptual, political, and personal themes examined by her practice.

ORIGIN STORIES: Altar Apparitions

Work by Mercedes Dorame

On view through Friday, March 6

Filling in the cracks with mud, yarn, and cinnamon, Mercedes Dorame's photographs capture staged interventions of ceremony in the Los Angeles landscape, re-opening portals of memory and mourning of the land. A member of the federally unrecognized Gabrielino/Tongva tribe in Los Angeles, Dorame investigates the critical importance of access to space for gathering to build and sustain community, identity, and proof of authenticity.  By creating new narratives that incorporate her own personal history with her cultural ancestry, Dorame walks the fence between fact and fiction in an exploration of public and private space, ownership, and visibility.

Mercedes Dorame, born in Los Angeles, California, is a member of the Gabrielino/Tongva Indians of California tribe. Dorame received her Master of Fine Arts degree from the San Francisco Art Institute and her undergraduate degree from University of California- Los Angeles in American Literature and Culture with an emphasis in Native American Studies. Her work was recently acquired by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum in Berkeley, California. She is the recipient of grants and fellowships from En Foco’s New Works Photography Fellowship Program, Galería de la Raza, the Harpo Foundation, among others. Her writing and photographs have been featured in publications such as 580 Split andNews From Native California.

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All Handwerker Gallery events are free and open to the public. Gallery hours are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 10.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m.; Thursday, 10.00 a.m. to 9.00 p.m.; and weekends, noon to 5.00 p.m.. The gallery is closed to the public on Tuesdays unless otherwise specified for an event but can accommodate group or class visits by appointment.

For further information or individuals with disabilities requiring parking accommodations, please contact Mara Baldwin at mbaldwin@ithaca.edu or 607.274.3548. Please make requests for accommodations as far in advance as possible.

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