April 18 – July 19, 2025

The Print Center is pleased to present Cecilia Paredes: By my side or back of me, the Philadelphia debut for the Peruvian-born, internationally recognized artist. The solo exhibition presents Paredes’ exceptional performative photographic self-portraits as well as an immersive, site-specific, sculptural installation created from “wishes” contributed by visitors to The Print Center. Together, these works address the themes of migration and home, nature and the manmade, and the poetics of a collective voice.

The Print Center is honored to share the work of this internationally recognized artist Cecilia Paredes with our Philadelphia audience, and to be the first venue to exhibit it in the city she now calls home. We are delighted to welcome Cecilia to our community, and to have such an accomplished artist recognize the value and contribution that The Print Center makes to our city and our field.

– Elizabeth Spungen, Executive Director

Cecilia Paredes, Dreaming Rose, 2009, inkjet print on Dibond, 47” x 47”

Programs

All of The Print Center’s exhibitions and programs are free and open to the public.

Gallery Talk + Opening Reception

Thursday, April 17

5:30pm, Gallery Talk with the Artist and Lauren Rosenblum, Jensen Bryan Curator
6 – 7:30pm, Reception

Conversation with Paredes

Wednesday, May 28, 6pm
In-person and on Zoom

Join us to learn more about Paredes' career, inspirations and artistic practice.

Public Exhibition Tours

Wednesday, April 30, 12pm
Wednesday, May 28, 12pm
Friday, June 6, 5:30pm
Friday, July 18, 5:30pm
RSVP requested but not required

In her work, Paredes deftly brings together both image-based and performative works, for which she draws from many sources, including formative childhood experiences, Peruvian history from ancient civilizations through Spanish conquest, and an abiding reverence for nature. A move to Costa Rica in the late 1990s affirmed Paredes’ passion for landscape, mythologies, cosmologies, literature and anthropology that continue to this day.

Globally recognized, Philadelphia-based Peruvian artist Cecilia Paredes (born 1950) attended the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru in Lima, Cambridge School of Art in England, and the Scuola Libera del Nudo of the Academy of Fine Art in Rome. She has an extensive exhibition record with solo shows in the United States at ArtYard, Frenchtown, NJ, and the Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, CA, as well as abroad, including Museo de Osma, Lima, Peru; Museum of Navarra, Pamplona and Museum of Art, University of Salamanca, both Spain; and the Costa Rica Museum of Art, San José, among others. She participated in the 2015 Havana Biennale; the 2007 Bienal of Architecture and Art, the Canary Islands; and was featured in the Latin American Pavilion of the 51st Venice Biennale in 2005. Her work is held by numerous international collections and American institutions, including the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; El Museo del Barrio, New York, NY; University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; and McNay Art Museum and San Antonio Museum of Art, both San Antonio, TX; among others. She is represented in the United States by Ruiz-Healy Art, New York and San Antonio.