Friday, May 1, 2026

All About Photo Presents 'Passing Through' by Olivia Vivanco

Passing Through is a new solo exhibition by Mexican photographer Olivia Vivanco that reflects on how to represent the migrant experience with care, dignity, and nuance. Rather than relying on images that expose, stigmatize, or reduce displacement to a single narrative, the project turns toward traces, objects, and spaces that hold the memory of those who passed through them.

Rooted in journeys across Mexico, the series moves through migratory routes, shelters, and transitional spaces where waiting, uncertainty, and movement shape daily life. Roads, refuges, abandoned belongings, dining halls, pathways, and railway tracks become quiet witnesses—fragments of presence that suggest the stories of migrants without revealing their identities directly.

At the heart of the project is an ethical approach to image-making. Passing Through resists criminalizing or stereotypical portrayals of migration, choosing instead to focus on resilience, solidarity, and hope. By shifting attention from the face to the trace, the work creates a visual language that is both restrained and deeply human.

The exhibition invites viewers to consider how photographs can bear witness without overexposing, and how absence itself can become a form of testimony. In doing so, Passing Through offers not only a portrait of migration, but also a meditation on memory, vulnerability, and the moral responsibility of representation.

Discover the full solo exhibition here