El Museo del Barrio in New York has opened "Sophie Rivera: Double Exposures," the first career survey of the Puerto Rican American photographer (1938-2021). The exhibition reassesses Rivera's practice, highlighting her experimental work beyond her well-known 1978 series "Nuyorican Portraits," which depicted Puerto Rican sitters in Manhattan's Morningside Heights. Curated by Susanna V. Temkin, the show features works across portraiture, photojournalism, and experimental image-making, including the color photograph "Alternators" (1975, printed 1986), which Rivera donated to the museum in the late 1980s.
The survey matters because it situates Rivera within the broader discourse of post-war photography, foregrounding both her political activism and technical skill. While under-recognized in the canon, Rivera was actively involved in artist-led movements in New York and worked with networks of Latinx and feminist photographers. The exhibition aims to open further study of her work and writing, including her 1970s articles advocating for women artists' freedom to exhibit nudes, challenging the notion that her practice was confined to identity politics.