Roxana Perez-Mendez’s studio practice addresses history, memory, and identity through the lens of her own experience as a Puerto Rican woman. Primitive holograms, sculptures, and constructions populate the environment and envelop the viewer in a space of transformation. Her Pepper’s Ghost holograms were originally developed in 1860s and used for creating illusions, known as “ghosts” in theatrical performances and theme parks. A two-way glass mirror is positioned at an angle to the audience in these types of construction; it holds the reflection of the object and the Roxana’s own video performance. The Pepper’s Ghost screen acts as both a mirror and reflecting medium, simultaneously producing reality and illusion. Uncanny, ephemeral, and amusing by nature, these holographic constructions create a tenuous vision, the illusion falling apart quickly if the viewer steps to either side. In this miniature world the viewer witnesses a situation where no resolution is achieved, a place where the American Dream of naturalization is left unfulfilled, a dream from which one does not wake.

Roxana Perez-Mendez’s next show with Vox Populi, “En Mi Espejo Veo Tu Cara” (trans. In my mirror, I see your face) features miniature Pepper’s Ghost Holograms, landscapes, and a tour that layers the experience of immigration and the lasting effects of colonialism onto the American landscape. This tour ushers the viewer to other locations, taking the viewer through events of the past as if they were rooms, and conjures a place that remains one of the last holdouts for colonization in the Americas.