The Print Center's Press Release for the 94th ANNUAL

PHILADELPHIA, PA - (January 2, 2020) The Print Center is pleased to present solo exhibitions of new
work by Miguel A. Aragón (born Ciudad Juárez, México; lives Staten Island, NY), Young Sun Han (born
Evanston, IL; lives Brooklyn, NY) and Ron Tarver (born Fort Gibson, OK; lives Philadelphia, PA). These
artists were selected from more than 500 international artists who applied to our 94th ANNUAL
International Competition. The jurors were Charlotte Cotton, Curator-in-Residence, California Museum
The Print Center 94th ANNUAL January 17 — March 21, 2020 2
of Photography, Riverside and Gretchen Wagner, Andrew W. Mellon Fellow for Prints, Drawings, and
Photographs, Saint Louis Art Museum.
The Print Center’s ANNUAL is one of the oldest and most prestigious competitions in the United States. It
highlights local, national and international artists who utilize photography and printmaking in intriguing
ways, both in content and in process.
The 94th ANNUAL solo exhibitions highlight new and recent work from three cutting-edge artists:
Miguel A. Aragón, Young Sun Han and Ron Tarver, active in the fields of contemporary
printmaking and photography. Because of the nature of the competition, our applicant pool
always reveals something unexpected; this year – as is often the case – all three exhibitions are
concerned with timely topics. They speak to a profound diversity in material, technique and
subject. We are proud to exhibit the work of these artists and engage in the critical dialogs ignited
by them.
- Ksenia Nouril, Jensen Bryan Curator
Miguel A. Aragón: Indices of Silence/Índices del silencio
Aragón pointedly addresses the deaths, arrests and corruption associated with the war on drugs
unfolding in and beyond Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, a city bordered by El Paso, Texas. Using a variety of
innovative print techniques, such as an industrial-grade hand drill to cut both large woodblocks and
sheets of paper, he presents gripping portraits that humanize the victims of this violence.
Image: Miguel A. Aragón, Embolsado, 2018
Young Sun Han: The Unforever Parallel
Approaching loss from both personal and collective points of view, Han explores his family narratives
through the geopolitical history of North and South Korea in the 20th century. He traces the immigrant
experience across the 38th parallel north (the border between these two countries). His photo-based
installations poetically depict the places rooted in these histories.
Image: Young Sun Han, Passages From a Memoir: Dadaepo Beach, Dadaepo Horizon, and Busan Harbor, 2019
Ron Tarver: An Overdue Conversation With My Father
Tarver reimagines the African American experience in the United States under Jim Crow, as interpreted
through the lens of his father Richard Tarver, a photographer who captured this community in Fort
Gibson, Oklahoma during the 1940s and 50s. By looking back at his father’s archive and appropriating its
imagery, Tarver reworks them to reflect on the deep history of the tight-knit African American community
in Fort Gibson, re-presenting its triumphs and tribulations.