Valerie Piraino, based in New York City, works in installation, sculpture and photography. Using an archive of family slides, Piraino creates installations by distorting projected images through materials, such as picture frames, glass or mirrors. By reimaging and juxtaposing slides, Piraino asks what it is like to imagine someone’s private life. She aims to recreate a fragmentary likeness of memory, believing this can be truer to life. For Piraino, these family slides present stories that can be heightened and dramatized by time, absence and nostalgia.
The solo show accompanies the exhibition The Narcissism of Minor Differences, which showcases 18 acclaimed artists who explore the dark side of intolerance using art, historical artifact and documentation, on view through Sunday, March 13.
Fox Building’s Meyerhoff Gallery, 1303 W. Mount Royal Ave.
Friday, Feb. 18–Sunday, March 13; gallery talk with George Ciscle, curator-in-residence: Friday, Feb.18, noon; reception: Friday, Feb. 18, 5–7 p.m.
MICA’s galleries, which are free and open to the public, are open Monday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; and Sunday, noon–5 p.m. They are closed on major holidays.
