Sam Lena-South Tucson Library invites you to an exhibit by local artist Anita Maksimiuk, on display until March 28, 2025.
Artist Statement:
As a printmaker, my work engages the symbology of migration, root-taking, rootlessness, and urban ebb and flow. This is largely based on my experience as a first-generation American raised in Brooklyn, New York. Watching the city’s immigrant enclaves gentrify and lose their sense of sanctuary is what first motivated me to explore the idea of a "natural" urban cycle of change. I then began connecting this idea to my own role as a new American, keeper of multiple cultures and a maker working in highly physical processes that demand patience, time and both hands.
By translating images from my personal photo archive into print, I act to preserve both places and histories that fade along with the immigrant. As I move through this country, I keep in mind the glare of separation, the repairs that can be made across borders and generations, and what cannot be mended. I allow the stark contrast between screen print and lithography to speak to these fissures in my work- my images explore the outdated versus the contemporary, the remnant versus the aftermath, and the American Dream versus the broken spell.
Images courtesy of the artist
