08/17/2021
By Anna Isaak-Ross

The UMass Lowell Department of Art & Design, in partnership with the Saab Center for Portuguese Studies is pleased to announce an exhibition of recent work by Pedro Letria called “Maskirovka.” The exhibition will be open from Sept. 10 — Oct. 16, 2021 in the University Gallery in Mahoney Hall on 870 Broadway Street in Lowell. Petria will present a lecture on Wednesday, Sept. 22 at 5:30 p.m., followed by a reception. These events are free, wheelchair accessible, and open to the public.

Maskirovka is the Russian word for deception that has became known as a military strategy intended to confuse the enemy. In the project Maskirovka, a film and a series of photographs are juxtaposed and explored for their ability to question how we understand fact and fiction. The film makes use of well-known actors and the language of cinema to enact a truthful account. The pictures present unrelated, unstaged, and untitled occurrences. Maskirovka aims to posit the extent to which the reality of fiction, in images and words, may function as a surrogate for truth in times of assaulted facts.

Pedro Letria is a Portuguese artist whose work reflects upon issues of displacement and belonging. His use of photography and text are a reflection on how image and language function alone, and, once combined, establish an alternate discourse. Pedro Letria is the author of seven books, including Mármore, from 2007, and The Club, from 2014. His work has been widely exhibited and is part of public and private collections. He holds a B.F.A. from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an MFA in Photography from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), where he was a Fulbright scholar. He has taught at Escola Superior de Arte e Design, in Caldas da Rainha, Portugal, since 2000. In 2017 he was awarded the António Quadros Prize. Letria will be the Fall 2021 Gulbenkian/Saab Visiting Professor in Portuguese Studies at UMass Lowell.

The University Gallery is accessible to all. Gallery events are free and open to the public. Parking is available in the Wilder Metered Lot, located at the intersection of Wilder Street and Bachelder Street. The entrance to the lot is located on Bachelder Street. After 4 p.m. visitors may park in any open campus lot. As of Aug. 16, 2021, all visitors, students, faculty, and staff are required to wear face coverings in all indoor spaces.

The UMass Lowell BFA Degree Program is an accredited visual arts program of professional study in art & design that maintains the standards, guidelines and practices established by the National Association of Schools of Art & Design.

Gallery Hours: By appointment Mon-Fri 9-5, closed during school breaks.
University Gallery | Mahoney Hall | 870 Broadway St | Lowell, MA 01854 | 978-934-3494