We knew 2009 was going to be tough economically on a lot of people, so a third of the way through the year we are even more proud of our continued sponsorship of the Museum of Contemporary Art here in San Diego.

We end up doing some pro bono work of the Museum every year, but this time we were pleased to provide all of the framing for Javier Ramírez Limón deeply evocative exhibition at MCASD La Jolla through May 10, 2009.

MCASD curators write that Limón’s work

“mines the ground between photography as journalistic document and as a source for conceptual interrogation. He attains this through breaks and alterations in the image’s representational façade that take various forms: textual application, digital manipulation and the pairing of two independent bodies of work to create a third.

The exhibition will present two photographic series that document different moments in the process of migration of Mexican communities in the Southern United States. Color portraits in the series “Mexican Quinceañera” capture central characters in real festivities celebrating the 15th-birthday of adolescent women in San Diego. These images are brought together with black-and-white landscape photos taken in an area of the Sonoran desert known as Altar— a remote and dangerous region where illegal migrants and drugs are smuggled north.”

These pictures made a strong impression on us in the shop as we fit the images into their boxes, the juxtaposition of adolescent celebration against the ghostly landscapes of the desert harsh encased in black lines on our white tables.

Javier Ramirez Limon @ MCASD

Javier Ramirez Limon @ MCASD

Javier Ramirez Limon @ MCASD

The installation @ MCASD is even more haunting, as the boxed-in effect of the framing becomes more pronounced hung in grids, and the low key lighting leaves you feeling like you’re looking at someone else’s discarded personal photos, and getting a far deeper insight into that person’s life than you bargained for when you decided to look.

Javier Ramirez Limon @ MCASD

This is a very powerful show about our region, and we’re proud to help bring it to life @ MCASD. Special thanks to the artist and MCASD’s Cynthia Tuomy for permission to shoot and publish these pictures here.