WALLWORKS New York Presents Ricky Flores: Unprocessed Materials — Multiple Containers

Photo Courtesy of WALLWORKS New York

WALLWORKS New York is proud to present Unprocessed Materials — Multiple Containers, a solo exhibition by Bronx-born photographer Ricky Flores, opening April 18, 2026, as part of the Hunts Point/Longwood Biennial.

Born in New York in 1961 to Puerto Rican parents and raised in the Longwood section of the Bronx, Flores began documenting life in the South Bronx in 1979 after purchasing his first camera with a small inheritance from his late father. What followed was a decades-long practice rooted in proximity, trust, and lived experience—capturing the lives of friends, family, and neighbors during one of the most turbulent periods in New York City’s history.

In Unprocessed Materials — Multiple Containers, Flores presents a selection of photographs drawn from his archives; images that have remained largely unseen, stored away in boxes and bearing the physical marks of time. These works resist the conventions of gallery presentation. They are not polished or composed for aesthetic ease; instead, they confront viewers with difficult histories and unresolved tensions.

The exhibition reflects on the ways in which archives are constructed, preserved, and often neglected. Flores points to the institutional language that surrounds such materials—terms like “unprocessed” or “archival”—as mechanisms that can obscure urgency and distance the past from the present. Rather than presenting history as something contained and concluded, these photographs insist on its continuity.

The images in Unprocessed Materials — Multiple Containers connect directly to contemporary social realities, underscoring the persistence of systemic injustice and the cyclical nature of history. In bringing these materials into public view, Flores challenges both institutions and audiences to reconsider what is preserved, what is ignored, and what remains at stake.

Presented in conjunction with David Gonzalez’s New! Yo! Rico!, opening at Fashion Moda Modern Gallery at Inspiration Point, the exhibitions offer a multi-generational dialogue on the Bronx, photography, and the role of the archive. Together, Gonzalez and Flores present distinct yet deeply connected perspectives—one rooted in everyday life and cultural continuity, the other in the urgency of historical reckoning—creating a layered portrait of community, memory, and resistance.

Drinks courtesy of our friends at The Bronx Beer Hall.