The Power of Prints in Dangerous Times | Carlos Barberena

On view from October 10 to November 9, 2025, this exhibition features a compelling collection of political and socially engaged critical prints. It explores contemporary issues through traditional relief printing methods, including woodcuts and linocuts. Historically, printmaking has been a vital and powerful tool for communication and resistance during times of sociopolitical unrest, turmoil, conflict, totalitarian regimes, and fascism. It has consistently served as a powerful call to action for social change during dangerous times, often providing a voice for the oppressed and a means to disseminate critical messages when other forms of expression are suppressed.

Barberena's work features satirical and evocative images that address injustice, repression, resistance, displacement, everyday struggles and the migrant experience in the USA today.

About the Artist:
Carlos Barberena is a contemporary Nicaraguan printmaker recognized for his relief prints and the incorporation of images from pop culture alongside reflections on sociopolitical and cultural tragedies. His art consistently explores cycles of repression and resistance, and their connection to the Diaspora he has experienced—navigating periods of dictatorship, revolution, erasure, renewal, hope, and repression. Through his work, he aims to spotlight the often-overlooked figures essential to our collective well-being and to foster awareness of our shared pursuit of social, political, economic, and environmental justice.

Barberena has received various awards, most notably: "The Otis Philbrick

Memorial Prize" - Boston Printmakers: 2023 North American Print Biennial. Boston, MA; “The Elizabeth Catlett Memorial Award”, MAPC, University of Iowa; Second Prize in the 13th International Contemporary Print Biennial of Trois-Rivières (BIECTR), Québec, Canada; Best in Show - PrintAustin: The Contemporary Print, Austin, TX and the National Printmaking Award giving by the Nicaraguan Institute of Culture in Managua, Nicaragua, among others.

Barberena work is included in numerous national and international public collections such Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, CA; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Whitney Museum of American Art / Special Collection, New York; Fort Wayne Museum of Art, IN; National Museum of Mexican Art, Chicago; The Chicago History Museum;The Illinois State Museum, Springfield, IL; KIWA, Tokyo, Japan; Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Fundación Ortiz-Gurdián, León, Nicaragua among others.

Barberena lives and works in Chicago where he runs Bandolero Press.

He is a core member of the Instituto Gráfico de Chicago.

Gallery Hours:
12-5PM, Thursday - Saturday