MAY OF THE AMERICAS PRESENTS:

PORTRAITS
Recent Photographs by Angilee Wilkerson

Opening Reception With the Artist:

Sunday, May 4, 2003 – 5-8 PM

With guitar music by Dueto Matachula and a special concert by musical guest VISION ANDINA at 7 PM.

Shown concurrently with Portraits of the Tarahumara and Tierra Mia: Photographs by Pablo Esparza

Saturday, May 10, 2003 – 5-7 PM

Also including: "The Tarahumara Culture" by Mary Domínguez Santini, President of Casa Chihuahua, Inc., Rosario Salas Beall from Coordinación Tarahumara (a governmental organization of the State of Chihuahua, Mexico) and Francisco de la Peña, a representative of both Coordinación Tarahumara and Casa Coahuila in Mexico City.

A sneak preview of "Unwanted" and "Dead Dreams," a couple of films by photographer Pablo Esparza will also be included in the gallery talk.

Angilee Wilkerson is an award-winner artist who has been working professionally as an Editorial and Fine Art photographer in the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex area for over ten years. Ms. Wilkerson received her Bachelor of Fine Art degree from TCU and has subsequently studied with Joyce Tenneson, Maggy Steber, Theo Westenberg, Andrew Eccles and Charles O’Rear.

Ms. Wilkerson's works are continually published in national periodicals and Fine Art journals, including The Photo Review and Photographers Forum. Her work has been included in more than 30 exhibitions, including four solos mounted since the year 2001. In addition, Ms. Wilkerson is both lecturer and teacher.

PORTRAITS is a collection of chromogenic photographs created by Ms. Wilkerson. All the images in this show evoke a sense of nobility and truthfulness as Ms. Wilkerson’s subjects and their environment are presented with straightforward intensity and intimate honesty that engage the viewer.

Of her exhibition, Ms. Wilkerson states: "By making the choice to define ourselves we give voice to our existence, thus appropriating the power within us. This instinct for power is often sublimated into expressions of nobility. What we recognize as being noble can be compared to the latent possibilities of a seedling in nature. The seed may well grow into a tall tree with deep roots, flourishing, providing life for the rest of the forest. It may fall and lay itself down to be the mulch that sustains a new seedling. We of nature also are coming into being.

By aestheticising the moment, photographically, I am creating truths based upon my own experiences and values. The process of creating truth fulfills a need to actualize my own existence. The Pathos of nobility manifests itself in the act of creating truth rather than in the truth itself. "

Ms. Wilkerson’s work has been recognized and honored by appointed jurors from The New Museum of Contemporary Art, NY, New York, Guggenheim Museum, NY, New York, Aperture Magazine and others.