Rafael Soldi

These images are part of new work responding to the 1980 diplomatic crisis at the Peruvian embassy in Havana, Cuba, which inadvertently led to the liberation of nearly 20,000 gay Cubans. In April of 1980 over 10,000 Cubans citizens seeking asylum forced their way into the Peruvian Embassy in Havana. After nearly a month of a humanitarian crisis, and due to global pressure, dictator Fidel Castro was forced to authorize those in the Peruvian Embassy to exit the island through the port of Mariel, 25 miles north of Havana. Being a homosexual was the most heinous crime in Cuba at the time, and Castro announced that anyone else wishing to leave Cuba had to register as a homosexual, deviant, criminal, or otherwise useless to the revolution, and they could exit through the Peruvian Embassy. For gay Cubans who had been persecuted and incarcerated for decades, public admittance to their homosexuality became the surest way to freedom. In all, nearly 125,000 Cubans left, and it is estimated that up to 20,000 were gay.

While my country of birth, Peru, has a long history of homophobia, I am interested in this episode in which the Peruvian government was cornered into becoming a gateway to queer liberation. In 2019 I visited several newspaper and magazine archives in Lima, Perú, to photograph and acquire archival source material, which is now forming into this new body of work.

 

Rafael Soldi is a Peruvian­-born, Seattle-based artist and curator. He holds a BFA in Photography & Curatorial Studies from the Maryland Institute College of Art. His practice centers on how queerness and masculinity intersect with larger topics of our time such as immigration, memory, and loss. He has exhibited internationally at the Frye Art Museum, American University Museum, Griffin Museum of Photography, ClampArt, The Print Center, Museo MATE, Filter Space, and Burrard Arts Foundation, among others. Rafael has received grants and awards from the Magenta Foundation, Puffin Foundation, smART Ventures, Artist Trust, 4Culture, the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture, and Center Santa Fe. He has been awarded residencies at the Vermont Studio Center, PICTURE BERLIN, Oxbow Space, and the Bogliasco Foundation.

His first monograph, Imagined Futures / Futuros Imaginarios (Candor Arts), and CARGAMONTÓN (self-published), were both published in 2020.

His work is in the permanent collections of the Tacoma Art Museum, Frye Art Museum, King County Public Art Collection, and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Rafael’s work has been reviewed on ARTFORUM, The Seattle Times, The Boston Globe, Photograph Magazine, The Seen, Art Nexus, and PDN. He is the co-founder of the Strange Fire Collective, a project dedicated to highlighting work made by women, people of color, and queer and trans artists; and co-curator of the High Wall, a yearly outdoor video projection program that invites immigrant artists and artists working on themes of diaspora and borderlands to intervene the facade of a former immigration center building in the heart of Seattle.

These images are part of new work responding to the 1980 diplomatic crisis at the Peruvian embassy in Havana, Cuba, which inadvertently led to the liberation of nearly 20,000 gay Cubans. In April of 1980 over 10,000 Cubans citizens seeking asylum forced their way into the Peruvian Embassy in Havana. After nearly a month of a humanitarian crisis, and due to global pressure, dictator Fidel Castro was forced to authorize those in the Peruvian Embassy to exit the island through the port of Mariel, 25 miles north of Havana. Being a homosexual was the most heinous crime in Cuba at the time, and Castro announced that anyone else wishing to leave Cuba had to register as a homosexual, deviant, criminal, or otherwise useless to the revolution, and they could exit through the Peruvian Embassy. For gay Cubans who had been persecuted and incarcerated for decades, public admittance to their homosexuality became the surest way to freedom. In all, nearly 125,000 Cubans left, and it is estimated that up to 20,000 were gay.

While my country of birth, Peru, has a long history of homophobia, I am interested in this episode in which the Peruvian government was cornered into becoming a gateway to queer liberation. In 2019 I visited several newspaper and magazine archives in Lima, Perú, to photograph and acquire archival source material, which is now forming into this new body of work.

 

EDUCATION

Maryland Institute College of Art, 2009
B.F.A. Photography & Curatorial Studies

SOLO & TWO PERSON EXHIBITIONS

2020 Futuros Imaginarios, Carlos Caamaño Proyecto Fotográfico / ArtLima, Lima, Peru (POSTPONED – COVID)

2019 CARGAMONTÓN, The Print Center, Philadelphia

2019 CARGAMONTÓN, Burrard Arts Foundation, Vancouver B.C.

2019 Life Stand Still Here, Filter Space, Chicago

2018 Life Stand Still Here, ClampArt, NYC

2017 Surface Tension, Corvallis Art Center, OR

2016 Life Stand Still Here + Sentiment, Hodemaker Pfeiffer, Seattle

2016 Life Stand Still Here, Glass Box Gallery, Seattle

2014 Forgotten, VioletStrays.com

2014 Sentiment, Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA

2012 Your Witness: Rafael Soldi and Jenny Riffle, SSCC Art Gallery, Seattle, WA

2011 Preview Of New Photographic Works, Photo Center NW, Seattle, WA

2009 The Point At Which, Main Gallery, Baltimore, MD

 

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2020-2021 Lux Aeterna, Exhibition and Research Platform, Jacob Laurence Gallery/University of Washington Seattle, WA

2020 BORN TO BE ALIVE, SEASON Gallery, Seattle, WA

2020 Keeper of the Hearth, Houston Center for Photography, Houston, TX

2020 I Do Not Ask Any More Delight, Quappi Projects, Louisville, KY

2020 Roll Call, Study Hall Gallery, Utica, NY

2019 Fotografía Peruana Joven, MATE – Mario Testino Museum, Lima, Peru

2019 FWD: Part III, Glassbox Gallery, Seattle, WA

2019 CRIMINALIZE THIS! The Social Policing of Gender, Amos Eno Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

2017 Notions of Home, Photographic Center Northwest, Seattle, WA

2016 To: Seattle | Subject: Personal, Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA

2016 Every Five Minutes, Art Lab, Columbus State University, GA

2015 My Kingdom for a Stage, Fotoweek, Washington, D.C.

2015 Out of Sight, Seattle, WA

2015 SLIDELUCK IV, Chicago, IL

2015 In The Absence Of…, Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle, WA

2014 Beauty was the case that they gave me, Vignettes, Seattle, WA

2014 NEPO 5K Don’t Run, Seattle, WA

2014 CÁMARA OCULTA, Galeria Vertice, Lima, Peru

2014 IDxID: New Identities Revisited, Washington State Convention Center, Seattle, WA

2014 Chicago Style, David Weinberg Photography, Chicago, IL

2013 Mapping: Boundaries, Borders, Memories, Bodies, Filter Photo Festival, Chicago

2013 Magenta Flash Forward 2012, Flash Forward Festival, Boston, MA

2013 Chamber Music, Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA (commission)

2012 Magenta’s Flash Forward 2012, Regent Park Arts & Cultural Centre, Toronto

2012 I know you’re there, but who am I?, Work/A2 Gallery, University of Michigan

2012 Summer Introductions, SAM Gallery, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA

2012 IDxID: New Identities, Idea Odyssey, Seattle, WA

2012 Hide//Seek//Difference//Desire//Northwest, The Space, Tacoma, WA

2012 Under The Rainbow, Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle, WA

2012 Push, G. Gibson Gallery, Seattle, WA

2012 Author and Subject: Contemporary Queer Photography, Photo Center NW, Seattle, WA

2012 Pacific Northwest Photography Viewing Drawers, Blue Sky Gallery, Portland, OR

2012 SUJETO / PREDICADO, Galeria Vertice, Lima, Peru

2011 Long Shot 2011, Photo Center NW, Seattle, WA

2011 About Face, Gallery 339, Philadelphia, PA

2010 One Hour Photo, American University Museum, Washington, D.C.

2010 Face and Figure, Daniel Cooney Fine Art (online), New York, NY

2010 SULTRY II, Kris Graves Projects, New York, NY

2010 ONWARD ‘10, Project Basho, Philladelphia, PA

2009 Picturing Home, Emory University, Atlanta, GA

2009 Academy 2009, Conner Contemporary Art, Washington, D.C.

2009 Emerging Artists Auction, Daniel Cooney Fine Art, New York, NY

2008 Group Show #25, Humble Arts Foundation, New York, NY

2008 The Body in Photography, Main Gallery, Baltimore, MD

2007 Art Nonstop, Load Of Fun Gallery, Baltimore, MD

2007 Art & Commerce Exhibition, Baltimore Center Club, Baltimore, MD

2006 Hispanic Heritage Month Exhibition, Baltimore’s City Hall, Baltimore, MD

2006 Metamorphosis, Creative Alliance, Baltimore, MD

 

MONOGRAPHS

2020 Rafael Soldi: Imagined Futures, Candor Arts

2020 CARGAMONTÓN, Self-published

ART COMMISSIONS

2019 FWD: Part III, Seattle, WA

2014 Beauty was the case that they gave me, Vignettes, Seattle, WA

2013 Chamber Music, Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA

 

CURATORIAL PROJECTS

ongoing Strange Fire Collective

ongoing The High Wall

2021 Momentous Gesture, SOIL Gallery, Seattle, WA

2019 In this body of mine, Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design / Curated with Strange Fire Collective

2018 Signal Boost, NAPOLEON, Philadelphia / Curated by Jordan Rockford & Rafael Soldi

2016 Just Visiting, SOIL Gallery, Seattle, WA / Curated by Serrah Russell & Rafael Soldi

2016 Here and Now: Queer Geographies in Contemporary Photography, Stonewall National Museum & Archives, FL

2016 Break into Complexity, Kit & Ace, Seattle

2014 Here and Now: Queer Geographies in Contemporary Photography, Silver Eye Center, Pittsburgh, PA

2012 Social Order: Women Photographers from Iran, India and Afghanistan, Photo Center NW

2012 Author And Subject: Contemporary Queer Photography, Photo Center NW

2010 Select Gender, Farmani Gallery, New York, NY

2010 Haiti Relief Benefit Print Sale, New York, NY

2009 Wilgus Gallery, Baltimore, MD

2009 Follies, Predicaments and Other Conundrums: The works of Laure Drogoul, Baltimore. MD

 

AWARDS

2020 Curator’s Choice Award, 2nd Place, CENTER Santa Fe

2019 Art Projects Grant, 4Culture

2019 Silver Eye Fellowship 19, Honorable Mention

2018 The Print Center’s 93rd Annual International Competition, winner

2017 Art Projects Grant, 4Culture

2018 Filter Space Artist Award, solo exhibition recipient

2017 CityArtist Projects Grant, Seattle Office of Arts & Culture

2016 Jini Dellaccio GAP Grant

2016 smART Ventures Grant

2015 Acquisition: City of Seattle /Portable Works Cultural Perspectives

2014 Puffin Foundation Grant recipient

2013 Honorable Mention, Filter Photo Festival, Chicago

2012 Flash Forward, Magenta Foundation, (US) Winner

2011 Critical Mass, Photolucida, Finalist

2009 F. Grainger Marburg Traveling Fellowship, Finalist

2009 Sidney Lake Award for Student Leadership

2008 MICA Photography Department Recognition Scholarship

2008 AIGA Worldstudio Scholarship, Finalist

2008 Leonard L. Greif, Jr. Scholarship in Photography

2007 MICA Emerging Leader Award

2007 MICA Photography Department Recognition Scholarship

2007 William Ferguson Merit Scholarship

2005-2008 MICA Talent Grant

 

RESIDENCIES

2019 Bogliasco Foundation Fellowship

2019 Oxbow Space

2016 Picture Berlin

2016 Vermont Studio Center

 

PRESENTATIONS

2020 “Interior Life,” Filter Photo / Strange Fire Collective

2020 Studio Visit, Conversation with David Oresick, Silver Eye Center for Photography

2020 Artist Lecture, Stanford University

2020 Artist Lecture, Western Washington University

2020 “In the Studio” (Part 1 & Part 2) in conversation with Diana Flatto, Assistant Curator, Americas Society, Visual Arts

2020 Artist Lecture, University of Iowa

2020 Artist Lecture, University of Washington

2019 The Evergreen State College Art Lecture Series

2019 Artist Lecture, University of Houston

2019 Public Conversation with Ksenia Nouril, The Print Center, Philadelphia

2019 Artist Lecture with Birthe Piontek, Burrard Arts Foundation

2019 Paradigm Lecture Series: Rafael Soldi, University of the Arts, Philadelphia

2018 Rubin Visiting Artist Award, Columbia College Chicago

2018 Society for Photographic Education (SPE) National Conference, Philadelphia

2018 College Art Association (CAA) National Conference, Los Angeles

2017 Society for Photographic Education National Conference, Orlando

2016 Picture Berlin Lecture, tête, Berlin

2014 Artist Lecture, SPE Regional Conference, WA

2014 Curator’s Lecture, Here & Now Exhibition, SECP, Pittsburgh, PA

2014 Visiting Artist, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA

2014Artist Lecture, Close To Home, PCNW, Seattle, WA

2013 Artist Lecture, Community Discussion Group, Photo Center NW, Seattle, WA

2013 Artist Lecture, Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA

2013 Queer Art in Schools, Studios, Galleries and Beyond, SPE National Conference, Chicago

2013 Fostering Student Engagement Through Practical Learning, SPE National Conference, Chicago

2012 Artist Lecture, Gender and Sexuality in American Portraiture class, Photo Center, Seattle, WA

2011 What Students Want, Expect, and Need from Their Eduction, SPE National Conference, Atlanta

2011 Guest Lecturer, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD

 

PRESS

2020 Interview: Photography 20/20 Compendium, CENTER Santa Fe

2020 Rafael Soldi Transforms a Photo Booth into a Sanctuary, Humble Arts Foundation

2020 Focal Point Live with Rafael Soldi and Jess T. Dugan (podcast), Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL

2020 A Message to the City from Rafael Soldi, The Stranger

2019 Still Moving Still, OSMOS

2019 Review: Life Stand Still Here at Filter Photo, Photograph Magazine

2019 Interview: Rafael Soldi, Yale University Radio

2019 Critics’ Pick by Serena Qiu, ARTFORUM

2019 Review: Cargamontón, ArtNexus

2019 Review: Rafael Soldi — Life Stand Still Here, by Jill Danto, The Seen

2019 Review: Life Stand Still Here at Filter Photo, Photograph Magazine

2019 Artist dives into the recesses of memory to explore the darkness within us all, Art Daily

2019 In Conversation: Rafael Soldi, Burrard Arts Foundation Blog

2019 Seven Photographers Bring New Energy to Self-Portraiture by Jon Feinstein, VICE

2019 Reflecting on Childhood: Aggression and Intimacy at the Playground by Cat Lachowskyj, Lensculture

2019 Five Questions: Rafael Soldi, GRAY Magazine

2019 6 things to do in Seattle by Brangien Davis, Crosscut

2018 Internally Yours: A Conversation between Jon Feinstein and Rafael Soldi, In The In-Between

2018 Rafael Soldi: Life Stand Still Here, Lenscratch

2018 Inside Out, Profile feature by Conor Risch, PDN (print, online)

2018 Rafael Soldi: Life Stand Still Here, AINT-BAD

2018 5×5: Family Disrupted, TAGTAGTAG Magazine

2018 Rafael Soldi Solo Exhibition at ClampArt, We And The Color

2018 Latitude 47

2018 Finding a Home, City Arts Magazine

2017 Spotlight: Rafael Soldi, Photo-Emphasis

2016 Viewing Photographer Rafael Soldi Through the Lens of Diane Arbus, The Stranger

2016 Photographing Loss With an Abstract Lens, Humble Arts Foundation

2015 Dark Mirrors: Rafael Soldi, Vignettes

2014 She Knew by Rafael Soldi, Hello Mr.

2014 Sizzling Summer Shows, What Will You Remember?

2014 Rafael Soldi Curates Here & Now, Lenscratch

2014 Q&A: Here & Now, Light Leaked

2014 Sentiment at the Griffin Museum, The Boston Globe

2014 Art Review: Here & Now, The Pittsburgh Tribune

2014 ‘Queer Geographies’ exhibit evolving diversity in America, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

2014 ‘Here & Now’ Traces the Diversity of the LGBT Experience, The Pittsburgh City Paper

2014 Rafael Soldi Displays Black-and-White Photography with Wild Abandon, Seattle Magazine

2013 Map Quest!, What Will You Remember?

2013 At Frye Art Museum, Works Old and New Come Together, Seattle Magazine

2013 Fechin and Chambers at the Frye, CityArts

2012 Two ‘Hide/Seek’ offshoots in Seattle, Seattle Times

2012 NW artists respond to TAM’s “Hide/Seek”, The News Tribune

2012 Rafael Soldi at SAM Gallery, Seattle Art Museum

2012 New Identities, New Ideas, International Examiner

2011 Faces at Gallery 339, 34th St Magazine

2011 Retratos del Instante, El Comercio

2011 Rafael Soldi Comes to Terms with a Breakup Through Self Portraits, Feature Shoot

2011 Q&A: Rafael Soldi, Icon United

2010 PDNedu, Interview: Internship Feature, Spring ‘10 Issue

2010 Select Gender at Dumbo’s Farmani Gallery, Lost at E Minor

2009 Storytellers: Rafael Soldi, PDNedu

PUBLICATIONS

2020 The Racket Journal: Issue 19, Cover

2020 Keeper of the Hearth, edited by Odette England, published by Schilt Publishing

2019 LUXE, Seattle Magazine, PDN

2018 LUXE, GRAY, Lagom, PG Cruises, Atomic Ranch, PDN, The Stranger

2017 The Guardian, LUXE, The Stranger, Dezeen, Latitude 47, Christie’s, Multifamily Executive

2015 CityArts Magazine, Design Guide, Dwell

2014 Hello Mr., Seattle Magazine, Metropolis

2013 The Stranger

2012 Flash Forward 2012, Magenta Publishing for the Arts

2010 PDNedu

2009 PDNedu, MICA Photography Book, Juxtapositions, Intl Architecture Biennale 2009 Catalog

2008 Follies, Predicaments and Other Conundrums: The Works of Laure Drogoul, Exhibition Catalog; MICA Photography Book

2007 Gutter Magazine, MICA Photography Book

2005 Portico Magazine, Best of College Photography Annual

 

COLLECTIONS

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA)

Frye Art Museum

Tacoma Art Museum

Photographic Center NW

King County Public Art Collection / 4Culture

City of Seattle

Maryland Institute College of Art

Private Collections

 

PANELS & COMMITTEES

2020-present Member, Board of Directors, Society for Photographic Education

2020-present Member, Public Art Advisory Committee, Seattle Arts Commission, WA

2020 Individual Artist Projects, 4Culture, Seattle, WA

2020 Seattle Office of Arts & Culture’s Public Art Advisory Committee

2020 Kent Arts Commission / Summer Art Exhibition

2018 Art on Main Selection Committee, City of Auburn

2018 Twining Humber Award

2018 Urban Design Merit, Public Art for WA State Convention Center

2012 Individual Artist Projects, 4Culture, Seattle, WA

2011 YPA Selection Committee, Seattle, WA

2010 Artist in Residence Selection Committee, PCNW, Seattle, WA

2009 Wilgus Gallery Curatorial Committee, Baltimore, MD

2008 MICA Reaccreditation Steering Committee, Baltimore, MD

 

MEMBERSHIPS & AFFILIATIONS

College Art Association (CAA)

Artist Trust

Society for Photographic Education (SPE), National & Regional

Photographic Center Northwest (PCNW)

American Museum Association (AMA)

Frye Art Museum

Henry Art Gallery

Seattle Art Museum

 

TEACHING & OUTREACH

2018 Mentor, Artists Up Coaching Program, Seattle

2017-present Visiting Lecturer, University of Washington

2017 Faculty, San Francisco Art Institute

2015 Photography Instructor, Art Institute of Seattle, Seattle, WA

2011-14 Photography Instructor, Photographic Center Northwest, Seattle, WA

2011 Photography Instructor, Young Photographers Alliance (ASMP), Seattle, WA

2011 Photography Instructor & Program Facilitator, Youth Media Corps, Seattle, WA

2010 Photography Instructor, SBOC/Club Photo, Seattle, WA

2010 Program Facilitator, ARC Photojournalism Program, Seattle, WA

2008 Peer Career Advisor, Joseph Meyerhoff Center for Career Development, Baltimore, MD

 

PROFESSIONAL

2009- Artist & Curator

2012-2015 Director of Marketing, Photographic Center NW, Seattle, WA

2010-2012 Partnerships Manager, Photographic Center NW, Seattle, WA

2009-2010 Preparator & Gallery Manager, Bonni Benrubi Gallery, New York, NY

2008-2009 Gallery Director, Wilgus Gallery, Baltimore, MD

2009 Curatorial Intern, Rotterdam International Biennale 2009, Interboro Partners, New York, NY

2007, 2008 Gallery Assistant, Clampart Gallery, New York, NY