A Step Forward | DER GREIF — A Step Forward

How faithful the memory of the shadow | DER GREIF — How faithful the memory of the shadow

So dark but I wish you sun | DER GREIF — So dark but I wish you sun

A Marker of Change (Reflections at the Train Station) | DER GREIF — A Marker of Change (Reflections at the Train Station)

A kind of death that rebirths you into something less painful...like a tree | DER GREIF — A kind of death that rebirths you into something less painful...like a tree

Catch me in the air | DER GREIF — Catch me in the air

We're looking at the same sky | DER GREIF — We're looking at the same sky

To Be Seen, To Be Held | DER GREIF — To Be Seen, To Be Held

Cuida a tu pequeño | DER GREIF — Cuida a tu pequeño

Departure at Midnight (The Night I Left for Texas) | DER GREIF — Departure at Midnight (The Night I Left for Texas)

They say your hair holds memories II | DER GREIF — They say your hair holds memories II

Shot ("When I'm in the blue light, I can make it alright") | DER GREIF — Shot ("When I'm in the blue light, I can make it alright")

I lay down his outline, to keep him true | DER GREIF — I lay down his outline, to keep him true

Living in the Land of What Matters

Artist Feature of Edward Gia

Jul 30, 2025

Gia was chosen by our Community Manager and Program Curator to participate in one of our Face-to-Face portfolio feedback sessions with our Guest Room Curator Jo. Trujillo Argüelles. Gia was also a part of our Guest Room curated by Katy Hundertmark and Valeria Posada-Villada.

Living in the Land of What Matters explores memory, belonging, and the emotional terrain shaped by my Ecuadorian-Mexican American identity. Rooted in family archives and intergenerational histories, my work addresses migration and identity through intimate gestures and material investigations. Themes of absence, longing, and care emerge through evolving visual narratives that blend both fiction and autobiography.

I pair my photographs with pages from my personal library, texts that inform my writing and reflect a layered cultural inheritance. Working between the U.S. and Latin America, my practice is shaped by cross-border memories and realities within the context of community.

Light plays a central role in my work not just as a physical element but as a metaphor for healing and transformation. Transparency prints displayed on the windows shift its meaning with the sun’s movement, echoing the cyanotype process in their reliance on light to reveal an image. These works are altered by the warmth of the sun and surrounding landscapes, marked by time and presence.

Together, they speak to the migratory experience, where light is both illumination and exposure. The viewer must move to see the transparencies, a deliberate gesture that demands attention and insists on visibility in the face of erasure.

"The Face-to-Face Session was incredibly helpful. The feedback offered clarity on how I can refine my practice and highlighted areas of strength that I hadn’t fully considered. It left me with a renewed sense of direction in my practice."

- Edward's testimonial on her “Face-to-Face” Session