Miguel Limón
Hogares
Perdidos
2016 – 2019.
Commissioned by:
Mana Contemporary/WIP 2019
Awards:
Aperture Foundation/Google Creators Lab Photo Fund 2021
Press:
Vogue
V Magazine
Grazia
Commissioned by:
Mana Contemporary/WIP 2019
Awards:
Aperture Foundation/Google Creators Lab Photo Fund 2021
Press:
Vogue
V Magazine
Grazia
Inspired by personal experience as the queer son of Mexican immigrants and growing up on Chicago’s south side, the images in “Hogares Perdidos” (Lost Homes) depicts Miguel Limon’s understanding of his family's history and culture in the US, most of which he experienced second-hand. This inherently complicates his identity formation and forms a cognitive dissonance towards themes of memory, family, and Xicanidad.
Due to the duality of Mexicanness and Americanness, Miguel has developed a disconnect between personal identity and cultural identity.
In an attempt to close this gap, Miguel creates his own archival media that embodies the memory of his youth, especially since most of the material culture saved by his family had been created prior to his birth. In his contemporary archives, he creates images exploring his relationship with himself, his mother, and his father, all of which serve as conduits of heritage and cultural knowledge. At the same time, Miguel adapts family photos into convoluted and confusing visuals, alluding to the dissonance that has plagued his learned memory of the Mexican American experience. Many of these repurposed images are of Miguel’s siblings, who have also had to deal with their own identity, subsequently informing the way Miguel views his own.
All the while, Mexican experimental artist, Isaac Soto’s “Cuanto Vale el Momento” or How Much is a Moment Worth? plays in the background, prompting Miguel's questioning of whether creating new memory has resolved anything at all.
