Announcing Sophie Rivera: Double Exposures

New York, December 9, 2025—Next spring, Aperture will release Sophie Rivera: Double Exposures, the first major monograph tracing the career of the late, groundbreaking artist Sophie Rivera (1938–2021; born in New York). Fully bilingual in English and Spanish, Double Exposures brings together photographs, contact sheets, and artist statements with vivid scholarship that places Rivera at the center of Latine and feminist art and within the history of contemporary photography in the US.

The monograph is published on the occasion of Sophie Rivera: Double Exposures, the first museum survey dedicated to Rivera, organized by Susanna V. Temkin. A long-overdue reevaluation of Rivera’s contributions to photography and Nuyorican visual culture, the exhibition is presented by El Museo del Barrio, New York, and will be on view from April 23 through August 3, 2026.

Renowned for her iconic Latino Portrait series taken in her Upper Manhattan neighborhood, Rivera began her career in the 1970s, becoming part of a coalition of artists who sought to counter negative depictions of Latinos in US popular culture. These portraits, later titled Revelations for a public art presentation in the New York City subway, as well as her street photographs, cityscapes, graffiti-art photographs, and experimental self-portraits, bolstered Rivera’s standing as a trailblazing artist who engaged with feminist and political consciousness.

The publication was made possible, in part, with generous support from the Henry Luce Foundation, Mellon Foundation, and Ford Foundation. Sophie Rivera: Double Exposures is copublished by Aperture and El Museo del Barrio and will be available next season at aperture.org/books.

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Sophie Rivera (1938–2021; born in New York) was an artist and photographer of Puerto Rican descent. A participant in various feminist and women’s artist groups, she was also a member and instructor at En Foco, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to US-based photographers of diverse cultures. Rivera is best known for her Latino Portrait series, which helped redefine Puerto Rican identity in the United States.

Susanna V. Temkin is interim chief curator at El Museo del Barrio, New York. She holds a PhD from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University.

Deanna Ledezma is a Tejanx scholar, writer, and educator specializing in the history and theory of photography and Latine contemporary art and visual culture. She is the postdoctoral research associate for the Crossing Latinidades Humanities Research Initiative at the University of Illinois Chicago.

Elisabeth Sherman is the Robert A. and Elizabeth Rohn Jeffe Chief Curator and Deputy Director at the Museum of the City of New York.

Serda Yalkin is a scholar and PhD candidate in art history at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.

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About Aperture
Aperture is a nonprofit publisher that leads conversations around photography worldwide. From its base in New York, Aperture connects global audiences and supports artists through its acclaimed quarterly magazine, books, exhibitions, digital platforms, public programs, limited-edition prints, and awards. Established in 1952 to advance “creative thinking, significantly expressed in words and photographs,” Aperture champions photography’s vital role in nurturing curiosity and encouraging a more just, tolerant society.

Aperture’s programs and operations are made possible by the generosity of our board of trustees, our members, and other individuals, and with major support from 7G Foundation, Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation, Charina Endowment Fund, Documentary Arts, Ford Foundation, Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, Marta Heflin Foundation, Ishibashi Foundation, Joy of Giving Something, Anne Levy Charitable Trust, Henry Luce Foundation, Mailman Foundation, MurthyNAYAK Foundation, Grace Jones Richardson Trust, San Francisco Foundation, Thomas R. Schiff Foundation, Jane Smith Turner Foundation, Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Stuart B. Cooper and R. L. Besson, Kate Cordsen and Denis O’Leary, Thomas and Susan Dunn, Agnes Gund, Michael Sonnenfeldt, Jon Stryker and Slobodan Randjelović, National Endowment for the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and New York State Council on the Arts, with support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

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Press contact
Lauren Van Natten, publicity@aperture.org