Ron Baron and Karina Aguilera Skvirsky present installations on migration and absence at Smack Mellon

From September 23 to November 5, 2017, the Smack Mellon Gallery in Brooklyn's DUMBO area hosted two exhibitions focusing on themes of displacement and personal narratives. Ron Baron's installation, titled 'Beyond-Beyond,' showcased nearly one hundred unglazed white ceramic casts of shoes, symbolizing refugee movements and historical tragedies, with surreal alterations. Some of these pieces incorporated nails the size of those used in crucifixions, alluding to the Passion. Meanwhile, in a smaller space, Karina Aguilera Skvirsky screened her 30-minute film 'The Perilous Journey of María Rosa Palacios,' which dramatizes her great-grandmother's migration through Ecuador in 1906. The film, featuring the artist dressed in traditional Afro-Ecuadoran clothing, includes visuals of the Andean mountains and a lively fish market, enriched by a dialogue with a family member. Both exhibits examine displacement through unique perspectives.