Free Archive Workshop: Turn your family’s stories into art

The Jewish Federation of El Paso & Las Cruces is excited to present a workshop series created and facilitated by Julio Barrera Moreno, a UTEP MFA student and recipient of The Aaron and Sylvia Wechter Family Excellence Fund grant. The workshops will be held on four Sundays in January: January 5, 12, 19, and 26, from 1-3 pm at the Purple Gallery in downtown El Paso.

This workshop series aims to review, catalog, reflect on, and create artistic experiences centered around the personal and collective archives of the Jewish community.

Participants can explore various creative forms using archives such as old photos, film negatives, public documents, letters, drawings, tapes or recordings, etc. These will be transformed into poetic, literary, photographic, pictorial, or audiovisual works throughout the workshop.

We encourage participants to bring one or more items to the workshops. After registering, please send a description or photograph of the materials you wish to work with to Julio at jabarreramo@miners.utep.edu. This will help in creating a handling and care protocol for the materials.

Each archive will be treated with the utmost care to preserve the physical integrity of the documents.

About Julio Barrera Moreno

Colombian documentary filmmaker and photographer with over 15 years of experience producing audiovisual content and multi-platform creations. His interest is in exploring social issues and reflecting on society. With postgraduate studies in Photography from the National University of Colombia and a Master's degree in literary creation from the Central University of Colombia, he has worked as a photojournalist, videographer, university professor, workshop leader, scriptwriter, and director of audiovisual documentaries, as well as creator of different photographic documentaries. He is currently studying for an MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Texas at El Paso.

Julio Barrera Moreno

For more informaiton about the workshop, please contact Julio at jabarreramo@miners.utep.edu or the Jewish Federation of El Paso & Las Cruces at info@jfedeplc.org.