Laurence Ralph and Carlos Javier Ortiz.
A new photography exhibit in Bernstein Gallery showcases the work of Carlos Javier Ortiz, a multidisciplinary artist whose visual storytelling critically explores themes of criminal justice, urban violence, and systemic inequality.
The exhibit, “Inherit America,” marks the ongoing collaboration between Ortiz and anthropologist Laurence Ralph. It features three bodies of Ortiz’s work from 2006-2015. We All Got (2014) chronicles urban communities shaped by violence and loss. A Thousand Midnights (2016) documents the Great Migration and Black life in cities such as Chicago. Migrant Workers (2012-2016) depicts the lives of migrant laborers. The photographs will be on display through August 2025.
In April, Criminal Justice @ SPIA – in collaboration with Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, the Center on Transnational Policing, and the Effron Center for the Study of America, and curator Christina Freeman – hosted a conversation with Ortiz and Ralph to celebrate the opening of the exhibit. Attendees learned about Ortiz’s artistic process and experiences as a photographer.