Art Review Her photos are unresolvable, driving the viewer through wonder, horror, and laughter without necessarily leading one to acceptance.

May 11, 2026 — 6 min read

Sophie Rivera, "Untitled" (c. mid-1980s), color photograph (photo courtesy El Museo del Barrio)

In the final room of the exhibition Sophie Rivera: Double Exposures at El Museo del Barrio, the first survey of the late Nuyorican photographer, who passed away in 2021, I found myself inexplicably drawn to a grid of abstract photographs by the gallery’s restroom. They belonged to two different series, one printed in a rust-colored red, the other in a deep, purple-hued black and white; something about the rounded, overlapping forms they depicted felt immediately familiar. These must be pinhole photographs , I thought to myself, nodding like a dutiful photo historian: Just look at the vignetting and that classic circular lens distortion .…