El Museo del Barrio Announces “Sophie Rivera: Double Exposures”

Sophie Rivera, Alternators, 1975, printed in 1986. Color photograph. Collection of El Museo del Barrio, New York. Gift of Sophie Rivera

El Museo del Barrio is pleased to present Double Exposures, the first museum survey dedicated to the groundbreaking photographer Sophie Rivera (1938–2021). Opening April 23, 2026, the exhibition offers a long-overdue reevaluation of Rivera’s contributions to photography and Nuyorican visual culture, insisting on her key role within broader histories of American art, identity, and representation. 

The exhibition title references both Rivera’s use of the photographic technique—layering multiple images within a single frame—and the artist’s exploration of multiplicity and identity. Through this lens, Rivera’s photographs embody the intersectional perspective central to her work as a Puerto Rican woman artist in New York during the 1970s-1990s, whose images both contest and expand established histories of portraiture and representation. Double Exposures is curated by Interim Chief Curator Susanna V. Temkin, with support from Carlos Ortiz and Serda Yalkin. 

“Sophie Rivera consistently emphasized her identity as ‘an artist, a latino, and a feminist,’ throughout her career,” notes Temkin. “Like other women artists, she also acknowledged how this intersectional positioning impacted her recognition, despite her active participation and vital presence in the art world. Foregrounding the full range of her oeuvre and formal experimentation, Double Exposures insists on recapturing Sophie Rivera’s recognition within the canon of American photography.”  

Double Exposures includes almost 200 photographs, bringing together vintage prints, unpublished texts by the artist, and ephemera from the artist’s estate, much of which has never been publicly presented. Also on view are the original Latino Portraits from Rivera’s iconic 1989–90 presentation in the New York City subway at the Yankee Stadium-161 Street station. Newly conserved, these works are presented in dialogue with lesser-known images, such as her provocative self-portraits, gritty New York landscapes, documentary work, and Halloween portraits. This expansive presentation serves to situate Rivera’s legacy within the broader photographic and cultural contexts of postwar New York. Further, by placing Rivera’s artistic achievements in dialogue with her vital role in feminist and Nuyorican cultural movements—including her involvement with El Museo del Barrio, En Foco, and various women’s collectives—Double Exposures offers new frameworks for understanding her practice. 

The presentation of Double Exposures at El Museo del Barrio also honors Rivera’s longstanding relationship with the institution, which spans more than four decades. This includes her participation in the landmark exhibition Mujeres 9 (1979)—believed to be the first photography show of Latina photographers in New York. Throughout the 1980s her work was featured in shows such as Three Islands, Three Women (1983), and All Hallow’s Eve (1986–87), her first solo museum presentation. She also served as guest curator for Latin Times (1984), an exhibition that boldly challenged stereotypical expectations of Latino photography. Significantly, El Museo was among the first museums to acquire her work for its Permanent Collection. 

A companion publication, entirely bilingual in English and Spanish, will be co-published by El Museo del Barrio and Aperture, to accompany the exhibition. The volume marks the first monograph dedicated to Rivera’s work and includes more than 125 plates, selections from Rivera’s own writings, and newly commissioned scholarly essays by Temkin, Elisabeth Sherman, and Deanna Ledesma. The book also includes an illustrated, comprehensive timeline about Rivera’s life and career by Serda Yalkin. 

“Sophie Rivera: Double Exposures reflects El Museo del Barrio’s commitment to artists whose work challenges exclusion and centers Latine and Caribbean experiences within American culture,” said Patrick Charpenel, Executive Director of El Museo del Barrio. “Through this exhibition and the accompanying publication co-published with Aperture, we are proud to expand vital conversations around identity, photographic experimentation, and representation—bringing Sophie Rivera’s visionary work to new and broader audiences.” 

ABOUT THE ARTIST 

Sophie Rivera (1938–2021) was a pioneering photographer whose work emerged in the 1970s amid a generation of artists challenging the misrepresentation of Latines in American media, art, and culture. As one of the few women photographers associated with En Foco, the Bronx-based photography collective established in the context of the Nuyorican Movement, Rivera played a critical role in advancing the collective’s mission of self-representation. Her acclaimed Latino Portrait series celebrates everyday Puerto Ricans and were later exhibited at large scale in the New York City subway system—bringing, in Rivera’s words, “portraits of people like themselves” to the public. 

SPONSORS 

We extend special recognition to the Henry Luce Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and the Ford Foundation for their generous support and for making this retrospective exhibition possible. We thank the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the New York State Council on the Arts, and other public agencies for their steadfast commitment to our museum. We are also deeply grateful to Aperture for their partnership on this project. 

ABOUT APERTURE 

Aperture is a nonprofit publisher that leads conversations around photography worldwide. From its base in New York, Aperture connects global audiences and supports artists through its acclaimed quarterly magazine, books, exhibitions, digital platforms, public programs, limited-edition prints, and awards. Established in 1952 to advance “creative thinking, significantly expressed in words and photographs,” Aperture champions photography’s vital role in nurturing curiosity and encouraging a more just, tolerant society. Sophie Rivera: Double Exposures represents the third fully bilingual English-Spanish title recently issued by Aperture, following the release of Alejandro Cartagena: Ground Rules (Aperture, November 2025), published on the occasion of the accompanying, mid-career retrospective at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and Louis Carlos Bernal: Monografía (Aperture and the Center for Creative Photography, Tucson, 2024). For more information, visit aperture.org. 

ABOUT EL MUSEO DEL BARRIO  

El Museo del Barrio is the nation’s leading Latine and Latin American cultural institution. The Museum welcomes visitors of all backgrounds to discover the artistic landscape of these communities through its extensive Permanent Collection, varied exhibitions and publications, bilingual public programs, educational activities, festivals, and special events. The Museum is located at 1230 Fifth Avenue at 104th Street in New York City.  

The Museum is open Thursdays through Sundays from 11:00am – 5:00pm. Pay what you can. To connect with El Museo via social media, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and X. For more information, please visit www.elmuseo.org.