Photo courtesy by jonas mueller-ahlheim

josephjosuemora@gmail.com IG: @josephjosuemora CV

I am a Mexican born and Chicago raised artist whose work frequently highlights immigration issues, unseen labor and social disenfranchisement. The concepts I create as DACA recipient artist depict the nuances of coexisting in both the United States and the art world with a politicized identity. I use my career as a gallery worker and qualities from Minimalism and Conceptualism to create my work.

By identifying gestures in my art making process, such as removing tape after painting a gallery wall, creating scratch marks on a gallery wall when sandpaper is used to conceal the holes from previous exhibitions, and pushing joint compound through drywall, I fossilize the unseen labor of an art preparator. These actions help me relate the unseen labor of undocumented immigrants who support the operations of many industries in the US. I see art preparators and undocumented immigrants working in the shadows of great institutions but are rarely recognized. Through my practice, I communicate and question the parallels of the bureaucratic processes and spaces in which I exist. 

Joseph Josué Mora has exhibited in the Chicago Latinx Art Now Biennial (2016), National Museum of Mexican Art (2018 and 2023), and debuted a series of new and ongoing work in a solo show titled Clearance at the Chicago Art Department (2019). Mora co-organizes Undocumented Projects since 2017. He was selected as one of the eight Breakout Artists of 2022 in Newcity Chicago Magazine and at the Chicago Artists Coalition. In May 2022, Mora created a temporary graphite mural titled Needed, But Not Wanted (In Masses), through Mind Map, a bi-monthly program at MANA Contemporary Chicago. Mora was selected as an artist for the Center Program 10, 2023, at the Hyde Park Art Center, where he also exhibited between December 2023-February 2024. Mora’s artwork can be found in the collections of the National Museum of Mexican Art and the Illinois State Museum in Springfield. 

In addition to Mora’s studio practice, he also has experience in gallery work as an art preparator and most recently as the Assistant Director of Exhibitions and Staff Advisor for SITE Galleries and INCUBATOR at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he holds a bachelor’s of Fine Arts degree from.