Creating a whole from fragments
In the hands of artist Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, a few photographic works prove powerful enough to make a profound statement about family and the Afro-Latin experience in America. “I tried to talk about the nuances of construction of the family. I’ve always been curious about the dichotomy, almost the opposing sides — black/white, Cuba/America, Africa/Europe — and then the result, the hybrid surge element,” said Campos-Pons, whose exhibit “Something About Family” opened Thursday at the Neil L. & Angelica Zander Rudenstine Gallery in the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research. “I’ve been using diptychs and triptychs to comment on the idea of fragments and how we make a whole. It’s almost like we take particles of identity to create this new one,” she said. “Sagrada Familia” pays homage to Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons’ son and to her husband Neil Leonard (left). Campos-Pons is an interdisciplinary artist, but the exhibit focuses on...