Jardín Botánico IB-UNAM, Coyoacán, Ciudad de México, México. Photography. © Sue Montoya. Courtesy of the artist.

Women Photographers International Archive (WOPHA), in partnership with Miami International Airport, presents the exhibition “In Between Sentiments,” curated by Amanda Bradley. The exhibition highlights the works of Nicole Combeau and Sue Montoya, who both use photography as a medium to delve into the intersections of place, memory and the movement that comes with migration. Both artists use the camera as a tool to uncover the sentiments that exist between person and place in often fleeting moments. 

Nicole Combeau employs deliberate techniques such as the manipulation of light and double exposures to weave layered and collaborative narratives into her work and ground herself in relationship to her surroundings. These processes, often unpredictable, merge body and landscape seamlessly–where the border of the body and the land it occupies become one plane–mirroring the notion that we both come from and become the places we move through. Often taking the form of portraits and self-portraits, Combeau builds her photographic narratives in collaboration with both her subjects and the medium of photography itself. 

Sue Montoya documents the landscapes she moves through, layering memories and sentiments and pairing each with a song, which becomes an ongoing love letter to places left behind, people lost, and lived experiences. This series, Letras Viajeras (Traveling Letters), culminates in an ongoing heartfelt love letter to all the places she once knew. Multidimensional in its format, this photographic essay is activated by the viewer. Visitors are invited to scan a QR code to listen to the playlist or take a postcard to mail, creating an interactive and engaging experience.

Both artists, first-generation Americans, navigate their sense of place in the world with their cameras collecting and transforming moments, feelings, people, and places into tangible sentiments and archives. The images become entry points that question relationships and histories. 

This event is part of the 2024 WOPHA Congress “How Photography Teaches Us to Live Now.” This four-day creative convening is co-presented by Women Photographers International Archive (WOPHA) and Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM). The Congress will take place at PAMM and various other locations across South Florida from October 23-26, 2024.

About the Artists

Nicole Combeau is an artist, photographer and educator born and raised to Colombian migrants in Miami, Florida. She received a BFA from the School of Visual Arts in Photography and Video in 2018, and completed graduate level training in Expressive Art and Somatic Education from the Tamalpa Institute in 2021. She has exhibited nationally in New York City (Brooklyn Library), Massachusetts (Whitney Center for the Arts), and Miami (Museum of Contemporary Arts), and has created public photographic activations at the Pérez Art Museum of Miami, the Wolfsonian FIU, and the Bakehouse Art Complex, among others. She was a ProjectArt resident artist in 2022, and completed an art residency in ArteSumapaz, in San Bernardo, Colombia in 2020. Nicole is a 2023 recipient of the Oolite’s Ellie’s Artist Awards. She lives and works in Miami, Florida.

Sue Montoya was born in Los Angeles, California and raised between Tegucigalpa, Honduras and Miami, Florida. She received a BFA from New World in Visual Arts in 2014, and her MFA from the University of Florida in May 2018. She has exhibited in Berlin (Radialsystem), Mexico City (FainFeria), and Miami (CIFO). She has completed artist residencies at 4Most gallery in Gainesville, FL, Home+Away at Anderson Ranch in Snowmass, CO, SOMA Summer 2019, Radio 28 in Mexico City, and Home+Away at Artpace in San Antonio, TX. She was shortlisted for the Frankenthaler Climate Art Awards in 2022 for Change Atlas, a transmedia exhibition exploring climate change in Miami. In March 2024, she attended an Artist in Residence at the Flower Shop in Brownsville, TX. 

About the Curator

Amanda Bradley is WOPHA Associate Curator of Programming. She is a Belizean American artist, curator, and arts professional. She received a BFA in Photography from the New World School of the Arts. Her work has been included in both solo and group exhibitions internationally. Bradley is a recipient of the 2024 Catalyst Award from DVCAI and a two-time Suncoast Regional Emmy award-winning producer. She has worked in several art institutions, including Forgotten Lands, Oolite Arts, Bakehouse Art Complex, and Peréz Art Museum Miami (PAMM), amongst others.

About the Congress

The WOPHA Congress is a creative convening and exhibition series held at the Pérez Art Museum Miami and virtually, with parallel activations taking place across South Florida. It aims to establish a critical space for photography by bringing together worldwide organizations of women photographers, art historians, theorists, and curators with a goal to enrich and more accurately represent the dynamic history of women photographers from the nineteenth century to the present day. This event showcases both seminal and emerging research and discourse in the field, encompassing national and international discussions on women and feminisms in the history of photography. Additionally, it serves as a platform to celebrate women and foster an unparalleled network for the international community of women in the photographic arts.

About the Miami International Airport

MIA Galleries is Miami International Airport’s art and exhibitions program. Its mission is to humanize and enrich the airport setting by commissioning contemporary artwork and presenting exhibitions that communicate local culture, environment, and art resources. Managed by the Division of Fine Arts & Cultural Affairs, the program seeks to enhance the passenger experience by creating a visually engaging environment that is contemporary, thought-provoking, and reflective of our South Florida community.

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