Vessels & Vestiges

Sept. 5- Oct. 5, 2009

Gallery Talk & Workshop: Sept. 25, 2009.

O'Brien Arts Center, Saint Andrew's School.

Vessels & Vestiges

Sept. 5- Oct. 5, 2009

Gallery Talk & Workshop: Sept. 25, 2009.

O'Brien Arts Center, Saint Andrew's School.

Vessels & Vestiges showcased a selection of Muriel Hasbun's photo-based work and interactive installations. Her work explores the relationship between the past and the present and lives at the intersection of personal memory and collective history. During the workshop at St. Andrew's, Fulbright scholar and Corcoran professor Muriel Hasbun engaged the students in a dialogue about their own family history in the greater context of history, and about the role of their own family photographs and documents in the construction of their own narratives. The students contributed to the installation by helping the artist make a large-scale paper boat that serves as both vessel and vestige of their identity.

Vessels & Vestiges

Sept. 5- Oct. 5, 2009

Gallery Talk & Workshop: Sept. 25, 2009.

O'Brien Arts Center, Saint Andrew's School.

Yo Viajo workshop during Foto Viajeros: International Experience/Transnational Identity exhibition in Corcoran Gallery 31, January 16, 2008–February 10, 2008

Viajeros are individuals who travel back and forth between El Salvador and different U.S. cities, transporting and delivering letters, food, and money to family members across borders. In El Salvador, loved ones eagerly await their monthly remittance and news that all is well. In exchange, the viajeros fill up their bags with morolico, duro-blando, Petacón, and other culinary tastes of home, easing the pangs of absence for the newly arrived and the naturalized alike.

With some two million Salvadorans living in the U.S.—500,000 of them in the greater D.C. area—the country of El Salvador offers a lens into issues of migration, immigration, and cultural identity that are central to much contemporary art and photography.

With that in mind, and following the model of the viajeros, during the spring semester 2007, a group of Corcoran students and faculty participated in a travel-oriented course to El Salvador. Led by Salvadoran-born U.S. artist and Fulbright scholar Muriel Hasbun, the FotoViajeros learned about the history and culture of El Salvador and employed photography as the passport into a culture that was foreign to most. Additionally, photography was used as a way to begin a dialogue and a cultural exchange with the people of the smallest Central American country and the largest immigrant group in the D.C. area.

With this exhibition, the FotoViajeros, Aimee Anthony, Petra Barth, Caleb Churchill, Genevieve Cocco, Harry Chun, Valerie Dryden, Susan Etheridge, Muriel Hasbun, Gregory Nash, and Susan Sterner constructed a glimpse into the complex dynamic that was experienced—both here and there—and witness the legacy of a traumatic past in the resilience of the everyday. 

Yo Viajo workshop during Foto Viajeros: International Experience/Transnational Identity exhibition in Corcoran Gallery 31, January 16, 2008–February 10, 2008

Viajeros are individuals who travel back and forth between El Salvador and different U.S. cities, transporting and delivering letters, food, and money to family members across borders. In El Salvador, loved ones eagerly await their monthly remittance and news that all is well. In exchange, the viajeros fill up their bags with morolico, duro-blando, Petacón, and other culinary tastes of home, easing the pangs of absence for the newly arrived and the naturalized alike.

With some two million Salvadorans living in the U.S.—500,000 of them in the greater D.C. area—the country of El Salvador offers a lens into issues of migration, immigration, and cultural identity that are central to much contemporary art and photography.

With that in mind, and following the model of the viajeros, during the spring semester 2007, a group of Corcoran students and faculty participated in a travel-oriented course to El Salvador. Led by Salvadoran-born U.S. artist and Fulbright scholar Muriel Hasbun, the FotoViajeros learned about the history and culture of El Salvador and employed photography as the passport into a culture that was foreign to most. Additionally, photography was used as a way to begin a dialogue and a cultural exchange with the people of the smallest Central American country and the largest immigrant group in the D.C. area.

With this exhibition, the FotoViajeros, Aimee Anthony, Petra Barth, Caleb Churchill, Genevieve Cocco, Harry Chun, Valerie Dryden, Susan Etheridge, Muriel Hasbun, Gregory Nash, and Susan Sterner constructed a glimpse into the complex dynamic that was experienced—both here and there—and witness the legacy of a traumatic past in the resilience of the everyday. 

Face to Face: Albums, Mirrors & Suitcases

D.C. Jewish Community Center, Washington, DC

Project funded by the Janice Goldsten Jewish Community Artists Program of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington

Workshops: February-June, 2001

individuals of culturally and ethnically diverse backgrounds, and those who may be new to the U.S., were invited to join photographer and teacher, Muriel H. Hasbun, in a series of artistic workshops focusing on childhood and relationships. Workshop participants used photography and writing as tools of "self-definition, re-interpretation and transformation" to create an expressive work that links past and present, memory and history.

Final Workshop & Panel Discussion: June 5. 2001

"Show and tell" gathering and panel discussion with Muriel Hasbun, workshop participants and invited speakers, Marianne Hirsch, Genya Markon and Dr. Lilian Rosenbaum.