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print this pageArchipiélago: Mapping Identity, Memory, and Erosion Through Photography
Ricardo Rodriquez
Friday, March 20 - 2:30PM to 3:30PM
Georgia 6
Through Archipiélago, Ricardo Rodríguez uses photography to explore the complexities of identity, memory, and place. Rooted in his upbringing in Puerto Rico, Rodríguez's work reflects on the paradoxes of island existence—at once isolated and interconnected—and how these conditions shape diasporic experience. His images, layered with topographical and environmental references, suggest both the fragmentation and erosion of cultural identity over time.
Erosion, both literal and metaphorical, is central to the work: landscapes change, coastlines recede, and collective memory fades, all reshaping how home and belonging are perceived. In a time of accelerating environmental collapse and global displacement, Archipiélago questions photography's role in documenting what is fleeting versus what endures.
By visually constructing an "archipelago" of fragmented images across the gallery space, Rodríguez invites viewers to consider how identity is mapped not just geographically, but emotionally and collectively. This presentation will examine how photography can serve as a visual language for layered realities of diaspora and erosion—preserving memory even as it acknowledges loss, impermanence, and transformation.
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