Primary is proud to present Vecinos / Neighbors, Lucia Hierro's first solo exhibition in Miami, showcasing work across a range of disciplines, including digital media, installation, and sculpture. Hierro explores the symbiotic relationship between personal narrative and larger economic structures, engaging the viewer in a discourse on issues of class, culture, and identity.
On this block in Little River, the immediate neighbors are Haitian and Dominican. Here, the rhythms of life permeate through the air, where the Güira from a classic bachata accompanies the aroma of our neighbor's magical sancocho. The neighborhood is familiar, made up of sounds, smells, and sights, specific to the culture, on loan from the surrounding landscape.
In "Vecinos/Neighbors," the concept not only relates to the literal connotation but also the relationship of the images within the work. Objects take the place of the figure, speaking to our connection with these objects and their respective socio-economic implications. Through similarities in these items, one can begin to relate. The viewer is no longer a spectator but a participant as to say we are all in this together.
Hierro grew up in Washington Heights, New York. "My family was always at a two-block radius, walking down the street with my mom meant stopping to talk to someone at every corner. There was a real sense that we were in on something together. I understood early on that it had to do with preserving the cultural/economic sanctuary we had created for ourselves. There was a sense of responsibility for your neighbors and loved ones."
An oversized bag of Domino Sugar is titled "Can I Borrow Some Sugar?" a ubiquitous question among neighbors, the irony of relationship-building via politically fraught objects. Reciprocity- as it relates to the interpersonal but hinting at the ways which the actual object it references functions economically and more importantly its means of production.
What do these seemingly disparate, at times, hyperspecific/hyperlocal objects say about how we've learned to compartmentalize the human costs of production vs. consumption? How does the analog notion of borrowing a tool or an ingredient build community, foster connection, and counteract loneliness in this new age of digital isolation?
Opens - Friday, March 13, 2020 at 6 PM
About Lucia Hierro
Lucia Hierro (Lives and works in the Bronx, NYC) a Dominican American conceptual artist born and raised in New York City, Washington Heights/Inwood, currently working in the Bronx. She received a BFA from SUNY Purchase (2010) and an MFA from Yale School of Art (2013). She has a forthcoming exhibit opening in 2020 at the Aldrich Museum. She has exhibited in group shows at the N’Namdi Gallery in Detroit, Tiger Strikes Asteroid in Brooklyn, NY Bronx Museum of the Arts, Sugar Hill Children’s Museum of Art and Storytelling, Paris Photo, Elizabeth Dee Gallery in Harlem, PUNCH/LA curated by Nina Chanel Abney, Jeffrey Deitch Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, Coffee, Rhum, Sugar & Gold, curated by Dexter Wimberly/Larry Ossei-Mensah, Museum of African Diaspora, San Francisco, CA. She has curated four exhibitions “Art Art Art Art Art: The Modern Woman” at RawSpace in Harlem, “Kenya Robinson: The Vocal Stylings of Cheeky LaShae”, “Max Lauter/Jon Peck: The Object is Present” at Shapeshifter Lab an experimental music and art space in Brooklyn and an online show “Artist on the Verge” for Aster(ix)Journal. She was recently an artist in residence at Fountainhead Residency and was part of the Bronx Museums Artist in the Market program as well as Yaddo Residency.
