Francis Almendárez

Descripción del Artista

Francis Almendárez is an interdisciplinary artist, filmmaker, and educator that traverses the intersections of history, (auto)ethnography, and the arts. He uses them as tools to address memory and trauma, in attempt to make sense of and reconstruct identity, specifically of im/migrant, queer, working-class bodies of Central America, the Caribbean, and their diasporas. Being the product of a family of intergenerational im/migrants and having to frequently re-locate due to financial instability, he attempts to transform spatiotemporal dislocation and intersectionality into agency, resistance, and autonomy by vocalizing and embodying the experiences of the marginalized, disenfranchised, or liminal Other. His work, ranging from video installation to performance and text, incorporates music and storytelling, and brings to the foreground time, labor, and rhythm. Combining personal narratives with those of his grandmother, Almendárez uses the biographical to collapse and juxtapose past, present, and future, subtly touching upon underlying, overlapping, and recurring themes from (post)colonialism to migrant labor to gender roles and motherhood. Working from the vantage point of both insider and outsider, he observes, he listens, and he collects. Then, he transforms the material from the personal to the political – and finally – to the poetic, in the effort to re-present and re-historicize alterity, and provide an alternative to the dominant Western narrative. Francis Almendárez has participated in exhibitions and screenings in the USA and abroad including rhythm and (p)leisure, Artpace, San Antonio, TX (2019); The Potential Wanderer, The Reading Room, Dallas, TX (2019); Sisyphus, Ver.20.18, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan (2018); and Voices of Our Mothers: Transcending Time and Distance, Houston Center for Photography, Houston, TX (2018). Almendárez is the recipient of various awards including a Houston Artadia Award, the Carol Crow Memorial Fellowship from Houston Center for Photography, and artist grants, in collaboration with his brother Anthony Almendárez, from Y.ES Contemporary and the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance. He has been a participant of the Artpace International Artist-in-Residence program, and the Institute of Contemporary Art Moscow Summer School. Writing on his work has been featured in publications including D Magazine, spot Magazine, Artforum, ARTNEWS, Glasstire, Y.ES Contemporary, and The Dallas Morning News among others. Almendárez was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA and is currently living and working in Houston, TX where he is a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Houston School of Art. He received his MFA in Fine Art (with Distinction) from Goldsmiths, University of London and a BFA in Sculpture/New Genres from Otis College of Art and Design.​

Galería de Obra de Francis Almendárez (5 Obras)

Fotografía, Video arte, Cine

(be)coming home (2019)

Video arte, Arte sonoro, Instalación

The Potential Wanderer (2019)

Fotografía, Video arte, Instalación

Dinner as I Remember (2016)

Ver las 5 obras

Exposiciones en las que ha participado como artista

rhythm and (p)leisure

Individual