Fri, Mar 18, 2016 → Sat, Apr 16, 2016
Rodrigo Valenzuela
Free Press HoustonIn Sin Heroes (Spanish, “hero-less”), Rodrigo Valenzuela considers traditions of urban monuments in the context of public manifestation and representations in honoring the dead. How does a culture choose its heroes, and what does the way we commemorate those heroes say about us? In his current body of work, Valenzuela confronts the lack of heroic figures in contemporary culture, the idealization of fame and fortune by neoliberal society and the tendency to memorialize big disasters, war and the famous, while leaving very little room to honor the casualties of these disasters and the sacrifice of the unknown people in everyday life.
