Susan Meiselas
Crossings
On view: January 15 – March 22, 2026
Talk and reception: Friday, January 16th; talk will begin at 6pm, with reception to follow
The lecture will be held at Seattle University in the LeRoux Conference Center on the ground floor of the Student Center building next to the Library. It is just one block south of PCNW on the Seattle University campus, and attendees are encouraged to join us in PCNW’s gallery directly following the lecture for the artist reception.
First presented at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1990, this exhibition by Susan Meiselas intertwines documentary photographs of Central America during the 1970s and 1980s (from Nicaragua and El Salvador) along with panoramic images from the US/Mexico border taken in 1989. Additional photographs of the US/Mexico border taken in 2018 are also featured in a site-specific gallery installation. The exhibition invites viewers to see immigration in the context of economic and political crises in the region.
Today, the work feels newly urgent. US immigration enforcement has expanded through militarization and constant surveillance, with leaders using fear-driven language to divide communities and legitimize brutal forms of control.
These photographs ask us to look carefully, to recognize familiar patterns, and to hold on to our shared humanity across the globe. People move in search of safety, possibility, and a better life for their families, which is a universal hope that crosses borders, generations, and time.
Bio:
Together, these works reveal the border not as a line, but as a lived terrain shaped by courage, rupture, and longing. Just as with the work of Susan Meiselas’ Crossings, these three artists ask us to look closely at the lives caught in these crossings—and to recognize our shared humanity.
These exhibitions and free programming are made possible by the generous support of 4Culture.
