The University Art Museum (UAM) is excited to partner with Santa Fe-based, Axle Contemporary, to present E Pluribus Unum: Mogollon in the UAM’s Mullennix Bridge Gallery from June-August

E Pluribus Unum features over 800 portraits from residents across New Mexico that were collected from August 23rd to October 20th, 2024, while artists Matthew Chase-Daniel and Jerry Wellman traveled around South-Central and South-Western New Mexico in Axle Contemporary, a mobile artspace and solar-powered photography studio. This is the sixth and final phase of Axle Contemporary’s E Pluribus Unum project in New Mexico, which focused on communities south of Interstate 40 and west of Interstate 25. The artists captured portraits of residents from Belen, Deming, Lordsburg, Columbus, Truth or Consequences, Hatch, Socorro, Magdalena, Pie Town, Zuni, Pine Hill, Grants, Acoma, Las Cruces, and Silver City. 

Founded in 2010 by Chase-Daniel and Wellman, Axle Contemporary was built in a retrofitted 1970 aluminum bread truck. As part of E Pluribus Unum, visitors were invited to sit for a portrait holding an object of personal significance. Each participant received a printed photo to keep, and another was posted on the mobile studio’s exterior, creating a dynamic, growing portrait of the region. By the end of the tour, more than 800 portraits covered the truck. 

The exhibition at the UAM and the accompanying book, captures the time and place of this project and underscores that, while unique, we are part of a larger whole. This concept is reflected on the book’s cover, where all the portraits are overlaid in translucent layers, aligned by the eyes of each subject. The exhibition will present this singular image, the full set of over 800 portraits, photos of the 2024 project in action, and a life-size image of the mobile studio.

Axle Contemporary, a collaborative project by Chase-Daniel and Wellman, has evolved since 2010 to include book publishing, performance art, and other socially engaged projects. To date, it has featured over 400 New Mexico artists in more than 180 exhibitions.