New York, NY, Ocotber 12, 2000--- El Museo del Barrio announces the opening of Latin American Artist-Photographers from the Lehigh University Art Galleries Collection, a selection of more than 100 photographs by 50 modern and contemporary Latin American and Latino artists drawn from the extensive permanent collection of Lehigh University Art Galleries, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. This distinguished photography collection, a teaching tool and work-study resource, contains approximately 2500 images from all over the world that represent both the science and the art-the technological evolution and the diversity of vision-of the photographic medium.

The exhibition at El Museo is organized by Guest Curator Ricardo Viera, Director/Curator of the Lehigh University Art Galleries, Professor of Art at Lehigh University and a nationally recognized specialist of Latin American and Caribbean photography. Viera initiated the Lehigh University collection in 1974, for which he sought out works by artists of different nationalities. Since the mid-1970s, when few curators in the U.S. were collecting examples of Latin American work, Viera has amassed an impressive body of more than three hundred images by Latin American photographers.

Latin American Artist-Photographers from the Lehigh University Art Galleries Collection presents a stunning selection of 100 images by modern and contemporary Latin American artists. These "artist photographers"-some trained solely in photography, others in a variety of artistic media-range widely, from modern masters such as Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Martín Chambi, Jack Delano, Graciela Iturbide and Tina Modotti to members of a younger generation, which include Maria Magdalena Campos Pons, Vik Muniz and Andres Serrano and Kathy Vargas. Despite the diversity of aesthetics, from classic photographic works to contemporary experimental ones, the works are clearly related by several re-occurring features: Viera notes that "There is usually a strong narrative, a sense of story-telling. . . . [Also], a key issue is place, particularities of geography...in the sense that 'place' goes beyond landscape or cityscape, but includes cultural aspects [such as]-religion, politics, etc.-and also affects poetics and the method of expressing it." Thus, many of the images tend to resonate on several levels simultaneously, expressing layers of insight and complexity.

A special project of Latin American Artist-Photographers will be a room size camera obscura by Abelardo Morell (b. 1948-Havana, Cuba) a photographer well known for works that explore optical phenomena and the poetry of domestic environments. Morell's camera obscura will demonstrate how a camera "sees," while revealing the process behind this artist's magical images.

An illustrated brochure in conjunction with the exhibition will include an interview with Ricardo Viera describing the inception and evolution of this important Latin American photography collection.

This exhibition has been made possible through the generosity of The Starr Foundation, with additional support from The Sheldon H. Solow Foundation, The Robert and Joyce Menschel Family Foundation, and the E.T. Harmax Foundation.

The mission of El Museo del Barrio is to establish a forum that will preserve and project the cultural heritage of Puerto Ricans and all Latin Americans in the United States.

Museum hours: Wed. through Sun. 11 to 5 p.m. Suggested contribution: $4 adults; $2 students and seniors; children under twelve accompanied by adults and members enter free.

El Museo del Barrio may be reached by subway: #6 to 103rd Street station; or by bus: M1, M3, M4 on Madison and Fifth Avenues to 104th Street; local cross-town service between Yorkville or East Harlem and the Upper West Side in Manhattan M96 and M106 or M2.