Always Tomorrow (Siempre Mañana) | Jonathan Herrera Soto

In the artist’s words:
  “Always Tomorrow (Siempre Mañana)” is a migration story. Over the course of their lives my undocumented parents would each return to Mexico to take care of a terminally ill parent, and re-cross into the U.S after their passing. Both of my parents have been caught crossing the border multiple times and deported only to try again. On my mother’s third and final attempt to cross into the U.S in 2015, her ankle splintered upon landing on the U.S side of the border fence, with several excruciating days left until arriving home in Chicago. She traveled the remainder of the way on her fractured ankle, as acquiring medical care was impossible. As a printmaker, I honor this painful lived experience symbolically by producing tracings and impressions.
 

Print-based processes such as the printing press—used to crush ink onto paper with enough pressure to break bones—re-animates the acts of violence endured by my family. “Always Tomorrow” bears witness to the migration trek as a continuous one, not a single event that solidifies a barrier between before and after, but a persistent collection of experiences that spans over multiple generations. An unwavering condition of returning and re-returning. My American experience is one of continued migration, an extension of the trek that started in Iguala with my parents in 1990. This exhibition is a collection of footprints in the sand at the forefront of my parents’ migration path. By incorporating the ceremony of wounding, found materials, and visual fragmentation I aim to tell the illegible story that has molded my life."

Artist bio:
  Jonathan Herrera Soto graduated with a BFA from the Minneapolis College in Art and Design in 2017. Recent solo exhibitions of Herrera Soto’s work include “All at Once” at Brown University, “In Between / Underneath” at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, “Querida Presencia” at the Duluth Art Institute. He has participated in numerous artist residencies, some of which include Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Yaddo, Kala Art Institute, Santa Fe Art Institute, and Highpoint Center for Printmaking. His work has been featured in BOMB Magazine, Hyperallergic, among other publications. Herrera Soto is a recent recipient of Jerome Hill Foundation Fellowship Grant (2019-2021), Brown University Artists Initiative Grant (2020), Metro Regional Arts Council Next Step Grant (2019), Santo Foundation Individual Artist Award (2018), and Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant (2018). He is currently a Paul and Daisy Soros Fellow working towards an MFA in Painting/Printmaking at Yale University School of Art.
 

Artist Talk - Thursday, 6/10/2021 at 7:00pm CST.
Please join us for an Artist Conversation with Eric-Paul Riege + Jonathan Herrera Soto. Co-hosted by Bockley Gallery and HAIR+NAILS.

We are feeling spark and resonance across our small city while their simultaneous solo shows (Riege at Bockley) (Herrera Soto at H+N) are up right now.
LINK to join us: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89600020560 

HAIR+NAILS’ COVID-19 SAFETY PLAN:

• gallery capacity limited to 10 people maximum at a time during open hours
• individual appointments available 7 days/week via hairandnailsart@gmail.com.
• air circulated by central air, open doors, and HEPA air purifiers with uvc light. Gallery aired out with gap time between visitors.
• masks required in the gallery. Individually-wrapped new masks provided. 6-foot social distancing.
• several hand-sanitizing stations and a hand-washing sink in the gallery.
• wipedowns with 91% isopropyl alcohol of doorknobs and any touch surfaces between visitors.
• Continuing consultation of CDC and MDH. Adjusting plans accordingly as advised.