What remains of a moment after time has pulled it out of shape? Distorted Nostalgia explores how personal histories are tethered to objects, images, and emotions that linger even as the original moments fade. The exhibition engages with the surreal, examining how nostalgia bends reality and turns the past into something both vivid and elusive.

Drawing from varied backgrounds and perspectives, the artists explore personal histories that resist perfection—impressions rendered softer or more jagged by time. They play with contrast, most strikingly through warm and cool tones that suggest the fluid nature of memory. Swirling patterns and unexpected material combinations abound, as though memory itself is unraveling and reassembling.

Every recollection is a reconstruction. As you move through the exhibition, consider how nostalgia shapes what you remember—and what you forget. What happens when the past is filtered through time, emotion, and different social or cultural perspectives?

Distorted Nostalgia Artists

Adrian Ricca Lucci
Adrian Ricca Lucci is a painter and textile artist. Inspired by past experiences navigating public-private health systems and working in the labor movement, he is interested in how societal structures shape our world and ourselves. Ricca Lucci has given talks at Trinity College, Dublin; Indiana University, Bloomington; and The American Public Health Association Annual Conference. He has exhibited work at Harwood’s 6th Street Studios in Albuquerque andat the University of New Mexico, where he studies painting and sculpture.

Alayah Fierro
Alayah Fierro’s work is a reflection of her Chicana identity, shaped by the intersections of culture, memory, place and the influence of Catholicism in her community. Informed by family stories, cultural iconography, and the essence of home, her work is a continuous journey of self-discovery. Her artistic approach explores themes of spirituality, memories, identity, and culture. She uses vivid color palettes, traditional materials, and religious motifs to create visual narratives that speak to the complexity of cultural and individual identity.

Allie Hale
Allie Hale is an emerging artist based in the American Southwest. Incorporating a variety of painting, drawing, prose, and sculpture, her work reveals intimate psychological moments from a neurodivergent perspective. These visual “mindscapes” contain varying elements of horror, whimsy, and humor, providing a microcosmic look into societal patterns of identity and judgment. The artist values authenticity as an invitation for compassion. Allie graduated with a B.A. in Visual Arts from the University of Texas at Dallas in 2022. She plans to begin working towards her M.F.A. at New Mexico State University this upcoming fall.

Camille Lubach
Lubach turns careful observation into sculpture and mixed media artworks. She seeks tactile creative processes that honor her sensory needs. Lubach has received scholarship and recognition from Maker House (Goleta), Linfield University, and The Santa Barbara Arts Fund. Beyond the studio, Lubach’s curiosity for creating is expressed through gardening at the Railyard Park, improvising on the piano, and spending time with loved ones and fellow artists. They currently work as a museum guide and as a team member at L’École des Beaux Arts.

Carla Lopez
Carla Lopez uses drawing to summon the ghosts whose presence she sensesin her family and in her life. She is based in Albuquerque, where she is an M.F.A. candidate at the University of New Mexico. She received her B.F.A. from Pratt Institute and her M.S. in Art Therapy from Florida State University. In addition to being an artist, Lopez is an art therapist and professional counselor. Influenced by her career in mental health, she draws pathways to healing in her art and embraces the temporal fluidity of specters to recover the complexity of remembrance, grief, and relationships.

Chloe Dichter
Chloe Dichter is a photographic artist based out of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her practice centers around experimental approaches to image-making and the construction of sculptural and ephemeral photographs. Her work explores kitsch, humor, Jewish kinship, childhood cravings, and the preservation of objects. She received her B.F.A. in Photography from Western Washington University and is currently an M.F.A. candidate and teaching assistant at the University of New Mexico. She has shown work across the U.S., including at Anderson Ranch Arts Center.

Chloe Hanken
Chloe Hanken is a printmaker and illustrator based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Hanken’s images construct imaginary architectures, filling in the blanks of family stories with drawings and archival materials. Her work is informed by her background in ecology, which is brought to bear upon issues of loss, change, and un-belonging at the tail end of the American empire. Chloe holds an M.F.A. from the University of New Mexico and a B.A. in Human Ecology from College of the Atlantic. Her work has been exhibited nationally, and she is currently an Emerging Artist Member at Strata Gallery in Santa Fe.

D’Angelo Isaac
D’Angelo Isaac is an artist based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He finds inspiration for his paintings by being alone at home and in nature.

Greg Joubert
Born in 1977 in coastal Massachusetts, Greg Joubert discovered his love for woodworking alongside his grandfather. Drawn to creativity over convention, he found inspiration in nature and hands-on exploration. After studying at Johnson and Wales University, he followed his passion to Santa Fe, New Mexico, enrolling in a Fine Woodworking & Furniture program. There, he was initiated into sculpture and painting, quickly establishing himself as a multidisciplinary artist. Joubert’s work blends craftsmanship with emotional abstraction, creating instinctive, soulful pieces. His art is a constant evolution—rooted in spontaneity, personal experience, and the dialogue between material and maker. He works from his Santa Fe studio.

hazel batrezchavez
hazel batrezchavez is a brown queer artist, curator and community organizer. Their textiles, performance, and sculptural works are rooted in the politics of survival and the poetics of movement. batrezchavez’s work has been exhibited at El Paso Museum of Art, Santa Fe Art Institute, Loom Indigenous Gallery, and SOMA in Mexico, among many others. batrezchavez received their B.F.A. in Anthropology and Studio Art from Grinnell College and their M.F.A. in Sculpture from the University of New Mexico. hazel batrezchavez (Stolen Land) descends from the Nauhua, Lenca, and Maya peoples of Kuskatán (El Salvador) and Tamaulipas, Mexico. Currently, they live and work in Tiwa, Tewa, and Pueblo Territory (Albuquerque, NM). They are a founding member of the fronteristxs Collective and Granadina Co-op.

Isabelle Berg
Isabelle Berg is a multimedia artist from La Puebla, New Mexico who is currently attending the New Mexico School for the Arts. Her work explores themes from her past. Working primarily in painting and multimedia, she uses vivid color palettes, different textures, and organic forms to evoke emotion and introspection. Inspired by her personal experiences and cultural background, she seeks to challenge her own view on her memories and past. Constantly looking for new techniques and ideas, Isabelle Berg continues to create art that resonates with people on both a personal and universal level.

Isabelle Hayeur
Isabelle Hayeur is known for her photographs and her experimental videos. Her work is situated within a critical approach to the environment, urban development, and social conditions. Since the late 1990s, she has been probing the territories she goes through to understand how our contemporary civilizations take over and fashion their environments. Her artistry reflects her concerns about the evolution of places and communities in the current neoliberal sociopolitical context. Her artistic approach examines the relations between nature and culture in a world where their (false) opposition is a dominant ideology that still structures our Western societies. From a critical standpoint, she observes our destructive modes of organizing life through depletion, subjugation, and non-reciprocity.

Jesus Miguel Avena
Jesus Miguel Avena is a Mestizo Mexican-American oil painter and ceramicist based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. His work explores identity, culture, and self expression, blending personal narratives with Mesoamerican and Indigenous influences. He earned his Associates degree from Santa Fe Community College in 2022 and a Bachelor in Studio Arts from the Institute of American Indian Art in 2024. Avena has exhibited at IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts and received the Award of Excellence from Connection (2019) at the Kennedy Center. He is pursuing a Teaching Artist residency with the Santa Fe Opera and plans to obtain an M.F.A. to further his artistic and educational practice.

Kauri Wilson
Kauri Wilson was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she currently resides and practices her art. She will graduate from the University of New Mexico with a B.F.A. in Art Studio this May and is driven to continue creating and exhibiting her work. Her paintings are deeply personal and mostly autobiographical. Kauri is particularly drawn to the human figure, interior spaces, and everyday objects. As she continues to evolve artistically, Kauri seeks to expand the thematic and technical elements of painting while exploring the interplay between representational forms and moments of abstraction.

Lee Glynn
A recent transplant to Santa Fe, Lee Glynn had a former career as a graphic/web designer in the media, publishing, and communications industries. Her many previous visits to Santa Fe, however, and the cultural richness she experienced, always engendered an inner passion for the beauty of the Land of Enchantment and a hopeful vision of a more balanced lifestyle. Now entering this new phase of her life, Lee is thrilled to be dusting off her formal fine arts training, rekindling her love for studio arts, and finding a new purpose and fulfillment in painting.

Liam Daly
Liam Daly is a multimedia sculptor and teacher based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Raised in New York City and New Mexico, Daly’s work explores the contrast between urban and rural experiences. Inspired by childhood visits to natural history museums, exploring New Mexico’s landscapes, and his grandfather’s work as an anthropologist, his work reflects themes of discovery and materiality. Daly delves into control, value systems, and memory, by using form, landscape, and found objects to examine how context shapes meaning. Through dynamic displays, he invites viewers to construct their own narratives and explore shifting perceptions of Value.

Nina Tichava
Nina Tichava was raised in both rural northern New Mexico and the Bay Area in California. She was influenced by her father, a construction worker and mathematician and by her mother, who was an artist and designer. The reflections of these dualities—country to city, pragmatist to artist, nature to technology—are essential to and evident in her paintings. Nina is a recipient of the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Award Grant in 2007 and has exhibited nationally since 2009. She received her B.F.A. from California College of the Arts [+ Crafts] in San Francisco. The artist lives and works in Santa Fe.

Sophie Rubeo
Utilizing art as a tool of social justice, Sophie Rubeo explores the told and untold stories of women, girls, and the LGBTQ community to empower conversation. Through the lens of nostalgic color and childhood symbology, her work becomes approachable for viewers who might otherwise shy away from topics of oppression and marginalization. As a participant in social justice organizations through the University of New Mexico, her art is a tool to fight back during these tumultuous times. Sophie aims to create visually approachable and thought-provoking pieces that create dialogue about themes of stigma and shame to deconstruct patriarchal culture.

Tracy Bell
From the artist, about the work: “In Innocence of Childhood, I explore how childhood, though seemingly a fleeting moment, leaves an indelible mark on our lives. The painting captures a moment of fragile innocence that, when reflected upon, may shift in meaning or emotion over time. The vibrant colors symbolize youthful joy, yet they also hint at how the past can become distorted as we grow older, influenced by our actions and choices. This work invites the viewer to reflect on how our memories evolve, how the weight of past experiences can alter our understanding of innocence, and how they ultimately shape our journey into adulthood. In this sense, remembering does change the past—it reinterprets it, redefines it, and makes it a part of who we are now.”

Zoe Peterson
Zoe Peterson (Athens, GA) is a multidisciplinary artist whose work examines his identity, states of transition, and places he calls home. Fueled by experimentation, he works with pinhole and toy cameras to blur the fine line between what is ephemeral and fundamentally solid. His printmaking background lends itself to the bookmaking world he has entered within his work, where he combines collage, writing, and photography to create zines, screenprints, and copper-plate etchings. Peterson holds a B.F.A. in Photography and a minor in Printmaking from the Savannah College of Art and Design and is currently living and working in Santa Fe.

Young Curators

Young Curators is a free after-school program for high school students to write critically about art and exhibitions, learn about jobs in art and museum fields, and work together to bring an exhibition to life.

The Young Curators 2025 are Ayana Anaya, Braulio Chávez, Giovanna Chavez, Violet Hay, Miranda Hernandez, Sonya Mendez, Hanbi Park, Zoe Penot, Ebrielle Primm, and Vincent Prothro.

Thank you!

Thank you to Jordan Eddy and Southwest Contemporary for guidance on the curatorial statement, and Sabrina Griffith and Damon Griffith for installation.

The Young Curators Program is generously supported by:

The City of Santa Fe Children and Youth Commission, Bank of America Foundation, The Hayes Foundation, New Mexico Arts, and Contributors to the SITE SANTA FE Creativity and Learning Fund.