Four photographs courtesy of artist Selma Fernandez Richter

Photo Credit: Top Left: Kristina and Great-Grandmother Dhan Pyakurel, Saint Paul, MN. 2011. Top Right: Horse, Saint Paul, MN. 2012. Bottom Left: Planet Hook beneath the flag of the Karen State, Saint Paul, MN. 2012. Bottom Right: Karen Altar, Saint Paul, MN. 2013. All Archival Pigment Print Photographs, 28" X 28."

North Hennepin Community College is proud to showcase Selma Fernandez Richter: “The Ache for Home. A Selection of Photographs.” The exhibition will be on display at NHCC from November 18 through December 14, 2024. Selma Fernandez Richter is a Mexican visual artist based in Minneapolis. She is the recipient of several grants and awards including the McKnight Visual Artist Fellowship and two Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grants. 

Selma Fernandez Richter: The Ache for Home. A Selection of Photographs Exhibit Schedule 

  • Monday, November 18-Saturday, December 14, 2024
  • Located in the Joseph Gazzuolo Gallery at NHCC in the Fine Arts Center (FAC 135
  • Join us for the Reception on Thursday, December 5, from 12pm-1:00pm. 
  • Art Gallery Hours: Open 8am-8pm Monday-Friday, Saturday 8am-4pm. Closed on Sunday.

Get a sneak peek of the art, below! 

a photo of a children's horse stuffed animal sitting lop sided on a sofa.

Selma Fernandez Richter, Horse. Archival Pigment Print Photograph, 28” X 28.”

a photo of a little boy and his fire truck toy laying on his bed, underneath a flag of the Karen State

Selma Fernandez Richter, Planet Hook beneath the flag of the Karen State. Archival Pigment Print Photograph, 28” X 28.”

a photo of a little girl with her great-grandmother in the living room staring at the camera

Selma Fernandez Richter, Kristina and Great-Grandmother Dhan Pyakurel. Archival Pigment Print Photograph, 28” X 28.”

a photo of two bouquets in vases on a window sill at a Karen alter

Selma Fernandez Richter, Karen Altar. Archival Pigment Print Photograph, 28” X 28.”

For her project titled "The Ache for Home", she focuses her camera on refugee communities of the Twin Cities. As the witness to the building of new lives, she photographs individuals and families, creating portraits of recent immigrants from Burma, Bhutan, Eritrea, and Somalia.

She has exhibited at venues such as Centro de la Imagen in Mexico City, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and the Minnesota Museum of American Art. Her work is in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Minneapolis Institute of Art and the Nuevo Leon Center for the Arts in Monterrey, Mexico. A selection of her photographs was featured in the exhibition and book Women behind the lens: 100 years of photographic creation in Mexico, 1910-2010.

We invite you to stop by the gallery on Monday to view the full exhibit! 

Artist Statement

The Ache for Home is a photographic meditation on displacement, belonging, and adaptation. Over five years I photographed refugees from Burma, Bhutan, and Somalia who resettled in Minnesota after fleeing their home countries due to violence and persecution. These families had just arrived and we formed a relationship based on our shared experience, for I too left my home in Mexico, seeking safety and a new life.

This project is a personal reflection on what it means to build a life in a new country and explores the process of making a home as well as the longing for connection and community. The Ache for Home speaks to the universal pursuit of seeking a place to call your own, and the quiet resilience woven into the immigrant experience. 

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