The Magazine – Darby Photos 207 Review by Maggie Grimason

Darby Photos. Columbine High School, Columbine Colorado, 49 x 41 inches, 2015. Courtesy of the collection of Joanna & Duncan MacKenzie.
“In a world of fast-paced information, the growing list of schools where such tragedies have occurred surfaces in the news cycle and then disappears again. It is troubling how the particular horror of each fades from our collective and individual memories. The long view is perhaps what we need. In 207, we are offered the particular stories, as well as—in a glance, even—a suggestion of the cumulative impact of gun violence. In these buildings, 207 people, mostly children, were shot and killed or injured. In the aftermath, even more than a decade later, Photos poured hundreds of hours into memorializing each place. If only we all dedicated such care and attention to contemplating the complexities that created crime scenes out of schoolyards. Quilting is a craft that requires an intense amount of time and labor; the commitment to each of these portraits evidences Photos’ sincerity and earnestness—but there’s something else in the medium that works uncannily well with its subject. Look closely and you can see the individual strokes that hold the whole scene together, with something as delicate as a cut of ivory thread. Something in the medium, too, suggests the idea of unraveling.”
Read the full review below
https://themagsantafe.com/207-2/
Remembering Valerie Roybal

“Wishing all beings loving-kindness, compassion, openness, ease, and joy this day and every day.”
-Valerie Roybal
Sunday, Dec. 2, 2018 from 11:30-1:00 pm
This week Sanitary Tortilla Factory lost a truly wonderful person, artist, and friend. We invite you to celebrate the life of Valerie Roybal. This Sunday we will be hosting an open house with food and refreshments.
Look for future events including a curated exhibition of Valerie’s work coming to Sanitary Tortilla Factory
Feb 10 – Mar. 8, 2019.
The Fracking of Sandoval County comic book release party

The Fracking of Sandoval County
Comic book release party
Saturday, November 17, 2018 5-8pm
Join us for the release of ‘The Fracking of Sandoval County,’ a comic book documenting the epic and ongoing struggle between oil and gas developers and local NM communities. Artist, Larry Bob Phillips, and writer, Mark LeClaire will be on hand for a community conversation about the issues. A celebratory feast and the musical stylings of Eileen and the In-Betweens will round out the evening. Other guests to be announced. Roll Through!
207

Darby Photos, Sandy Hook Elementary, Newton, CT., mixed media, 60 x 80 inches, 2018
207 by Darby Photos
Nov. 9th, 2018 – Jan. 4, 2019
Closing Reception: Jan. 4, 2019 5-8pm
In 207, Darby Photos’ depicts schools that have been the sites of mass shootings. The quilts these schools are depicted in represent safe spaces that have become scenes of horror and destruction. Buildings such as Sandy Hook, Columbine, Virginia Tech and Marjory Stoneman Douglas, as well as lesser, discussed schools like Red Lake High School in Michigan and West Nickel Mines school in Pennsylvania became physical manifestations of our society’s willingness to sacrifice our children to gun culture. The quilts confront the audience with the new banality of mass murder.
Collateral Damages

Collateral Damages
Friday, September 7th, 2018
6-9pm
Jeremy Adonis Carlson, sheri crider and Gary Sanchez will lead public participation notating the walls of the gallery with the collateral impacts of maligned policies of criminal justice on our local communities (focused on felony convictions- eviction from public housing, ineligibility for federal education loans and grants, and a ban from food stamp programs).Live screen printing by DRY MTN, poetry by Manuel Gonzalez and daughter . Large scale building projection & 200 free tacos (El Paisa Express)
Informed by SMART JUSTICE Campaign (ACLU) participants hope to shift criminal justice policy and build meaningful narratives that move criminal justice reform.
Project is a part of Our Town an Albuquerque City Wide project sponsored by the NEA.
