Pérez Art Museum Miami Presents Language and Image: Conceptual and Performance-Based Photography From the Jorge M. Pérez Collection
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Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) is pleased to announce Language and Image: Conceptual and Performance-based Photography from the Jorge M. Pérez Collection. The fourth exhibition from the Pérez Collection to be presented at PAMM, Language and Image features over 100 works by more than 50 international and intergenerational artists that explore creative diversity within the arts. Focusing on abstract, documentary, and performance works, the exhibition plays on the unspoken language delivered from a photographic image and demonstrates the notion that with the ability to capture time and memories, photography has the power to construct a unique truth and reality.
Isaac Julien. Emerald City / Capital (Playtime) , 2013. Chromogenic print Endura ultra photograph, face-mounted to plexiglass, flush-mounted to aluminum. Edition of 6 + 2 AP. 63 x 94 1/2 inches. Jorge M. Pérez Collection. © Isaac Julien. Courtesy the artist and Victoria Miro
“Photography has an extraordinary ability to capture the depth of human experiences and tell stories that go beyond language and cultural boundaries,” said Jorge M. Pérez , internationally recognized philanthropist, art collector and founder of the Jorge M. Pérez Family Foundation. “This exhibition celebrates the individuals behind the lens, whose creative expression expands our understanding of the world and plays a unique role in shaping what the medium is today. We look forward to the meaningful dialogue that will come about as a result of this show.”
Within the last 15 years, the Jorge M. Pérez collection has grown to include over 800 photographic works, ranging from analog to digital and spanning from the 1920s to the present. Language and Image celebrates Jorge M. Pérez's collection, offering a global perspective on photography's evolution—from a documentary tool to a medium for cultural expression, activism, and conceptual exploration.
"The exhibition presents some of the premier artists of our time, but also celebrates Jorge M. Pérez and the breadth of his collecting interests. Jorge's fascination with the photographic image is multifaceted, this is just a glimpse, offering a lens into a collective range of universal experiences but Jorge's interest in artists and the ways they think is readily apparent in his collecting of photography," said Franklin Sirmans , Sandra and Tony Tamer Director at PAMM.
Presented by Citi, the exhibition is organized under several thematic groupings, including “Landscape and Nature,” “Performing for the Camera,” “Image Syntax,” “Framing Architecture,” and “Collective Action.” These thematic sections enable the conceptually-based images to communicate with other artists through intergenerational, cultural, or formal means. The show also presents Eu, Mestiço , a multipart, multiroom installation by Jonathas de Andrade featuring portraits of men and women photographed between 2016 and 2017 in various cities in Brazil. The installation draws on keywords from the 1950s study Race and Class in Rural Brazil , which utilized photo-based interviews to assess racial stereotypes across six attributes: wealth, beauty, intelligence, religion, honesty, and work aptitude. By pairing recent portraits with the study's harsh discriminatory terminologies, Eu, Mestiço confronts enduring racial struggles through a stark historical lens.
Language and Image demonstrates dialogues between artists from Africa, Latin America, the US, and Europe, and celebrates the creativity and range of ideas that can be explored by the simplest of means: a subject and a camera. The resulting images convey the potential for spontaneity and experimentation that lies at the heart of this artistic expression.
Language and Image: Conceptual and Performance-based Photography from the Jorge M. Pérez Collection is organized by Franklin Sirmans, Sandra and Tony Tamer Director at PAMM, and Fabiana A. Sotillo, PAMM Curatorial Assistant. The exhibition is presented by Citi, with lead individual support from Patricia and William Kleh.
