“(UN)ERASED” by Christopher López

September 11, 2022 – October 20, 2022.

In conjunction with our Main Gallery exhibit, “The Fires: Hoboken 1978-1982,” we are proud to present an accompanying installation by Christopher López. (UN)ERASED, our new Upper Gallery exhibit, has its opening reception Sunday, September 22 from 2 – 5pm. This installation received support from the Hudson County Office of Cultural and Heritage Affairs and will run until Sunday, February 19, 2023.

In this installation, photo-based artist Christopher López utilizes both contemporary and appropriated archival imagery to construct a visual dialogue through collage that evidences the human toll that arson played on mostly migrant communities during Hoboken’s gentrification. “This is the first time that I am exhibiting this new work. The Hoboken Historical Museum is the most important space for this work to be experienced. These photographs and stories belong here. I’m honored to share them with this community.”

When asked how he uses his skills as both an artist and a historian in this exhibit, López answered, “The gentrification of cities thrives on the erasure of its pre-existing communities. As a historian, my purpose is to fight against that in whatever way I can. My goal is to create a compendium of this history by using every resource made available to me. The people’s names, their likenesses, their stories have been buried, and run the risk of being permanently erased. My work aims to change that.”

When asked how exactly stories are erased, López answered, “Stories have the potential to be erased depending on who is driving the narrative. In gentrified cities like Hoboken, it happens through this self-anointed position of pioneerism and the cultural appropriation of urban spaces. In its perversity, it picks and chooses the things it likes and discards the rest. The rest, in this case, are actual human lives. Gentrified cities are very cookie cutter and are not actually designed by people, but rather, by developers and banks to meet the demands of an upper tier consumerism. The palpable sense of community is no longer present. The creation of this absence is exacting in its design and predominant function, which is to rebrand a city’s already existing cultural capital and replace it with a newer fiscal capital.”

Our Upper Gallery exhibit, “(UN)ERASED” is a precious opportunity to view tragic pieces of our shared history through this artist’s compassionate, discerning perspective. It’s also a key companion piece to our Main Gallery Exhibit, and we urge everyone to experience this installation before it ends its run on Sunday, February 19.

Christopher López (b.1984), was born in The Bronx and was raised between New York and Northern New Jersey. He has been working as a visual artist since 2005. To date, many of his works have been made on the island of Puerto Rico. Often by exploring diminishing histories, his photographs celebrate the richness of culture as well as portray the complexities of identity both on and off the island. His work was most notably exhibited in the exhibition, “Caribbean; Crossroads of the World” which spanned three museums in New York City and showcased over 100 years of Caribbean art from the region’s most prominent artists.

Christopher has been awarded fellowships at The Laundromat Project and The Diaspora Solidarities Lab. He is a current member of Diversify Photo, an initiative started to diversify the photography industry and has given lectures at Barnard College and Cornell University among others. His artworks are currently in the permanent collections of El Museo Del Barrio, The World Trade Center Memorial Museum, and The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery.

The exhibit is supported by a block grant from the State/County Partnership program for the Arts, administered by the Hudson County Division of Cultural and Heritage Affairs.