A new exhibition in West Palm Beach invites viewers to look beyond surface-level interactions with people from marginalized communities amid aggressive immigration crackdowns and ongoing questions about identity and belonging.
Through intricately woven fiber portraits, collages, prints, and paintings, the “Past the Eyes” exhibition at Armory Art Center invites viewers to understand the histories behind each face, said Kandy G. Lopez, a South Florida–based Dominican-American artist.
“ It's to look beyond what you perceive the person to be,” Lopez told WLRN. “I always start with the eyes when I depict anyone. I think the eyes are so important and they tell a story.”
Her large fiber portraits, both confrontational and vulnerable, draw from her experiences growing up in a Dominican family and navigating Afro-Caribbean and American identity — a perpetual in-betweenness that raises more questions than answers, she said.
READ MORE: From TikTok to AI Art: Algorithms are splintering pop culture, changing how we connect and create
Lopez told WLRN the current political divisions surrounding U.S immigration also informs her work, harking back on the sacrifices immigrants, like her parents, often make to contribute to the United States.
“My parents are Dominican and they came here for a better life, especially for the kids,” she said. “They sure as hell wanted their kids to be able to have an opportunity to choose something that they loved.”
History informs your worldview
The 26 artworks in the exhibition explore resistance to European colonialism and the impacts of class and colorism — prejudice against people with a darker skin tone within an ethnic or racial group — in Dominican society and the wider Caribbean diaspora.
Lopez, an associate professor at Nova Southeastern University, said her work centers Afro-Dominican and Afro-Caribbean representation by humanizing individual experiences and emphasizing community strength amid historical marginalization.
“The show is depicting us as who we are. So there's vulnerability in the space,” Lopez said. “When you look at the eyes of the people, there's strength, there's power, there's courage, there's fierceness even in the way that they stand.”
IF YOU GO
What: Past the Eyes
When: Through December 29, 9:00 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Where: Armory art center 811 Park Pl, West Palm Beach, FL 3340
For more info here
