Opening reception for 'Tom Kiefer: Pertenencias / Belongings'

Friday, 03 September, 2021
05:00 pm - 09:00 pm

Join us for an opening reception for the exhibition "Tom Kiefer: Pertenencias: Recuperando lo sagrado en objetos fronterizos / Belongings: Recovering the Sacred in Objects from the Border.” 

Blending documentary and fine art photography, Tom Kiefer photographs objects that once belonged to migrants and were seized and discarded by U.S. Customs and Border Control officials. Kiefer recovered the objects while working as a custodian at the CBP station in Ajo, Arizona.

"Pertenencias / Belongings" considers the objects photographed by Kiefer as testaments to overlooked stories of hope, faith, devotion, and survival. The people who carried these items are bodily absent, but their stories are encoded in the objects, challenging us to examine our assumptions about what -and whom - we consider “sacred.” The exhibition invites reflection on what it means to possess and what it means to lose, and what it means to belong: how we define who is included and who is excluded, and how those boundaries are enforced. 

The opening reception coincides with the First Fridays in Grand Center gallery walk.

Please note that masks are required for all visitors.

Categories:

• Saint Louis University Museum of Art
• Student Life