On the anniversary of Hurricane Maria, Professor Cedré shares her research in Puerto Rico, culminating over four summers on the island. From the economic downturn to rebuilding efforts after the storms, her photographs survey the tenuous conditions of her homeland. Constructing a counter-archive, Cedré mines historical imagery, documents communities and recounts her own family history to understand issues surrounding the political status and identity of Puerto Ricans.

After the lecture, there will be a short Q & A followed by island refreshments. 

Tamara Cedré was born in Brooklyn, New York and was raised in South Florida. She studied at the University of Florida where she received BFAs in Photography and Graphic Design. Shortly after, she was awarded a Joan Mitchell Foundation fellowship to study under Rineke Dijkstra at the Atlantic Center for the Arts. In 2013, Tamara completed her MFA at the Maryland Institute College of Art where her studio research explored photographic narrative as a socially engaged art practice. Her photographs and installations have been exhibited across the country and featured in publications on the web. Her recent work explores the colonial status of her family’s homeland of Puerto Rico, continuing those interests of testing photography as a personal, political tool of documentation. Tamara believes that reconciliation and compassion is the responsibility of the church, and gets excited about art projects that render that commitment visible. This Fall, her work will be featured in Detroit Center for Contemporary Photography's exhibition and curated publication  Take the Picture: Capture, Collect, Archive, Photograph and the academic journal Transforming Anthropology by Harvard University Press. 

Related Article by Tamara Cedré in Sojourners: Don't Pity Puerto Rico. Instead, Listen.