Momentum is pleased to present A Place for Light, a solo exhibition by Mexican photographer Alfredo De Stefano, bringing together Storm of Light (2008–2018) and BURN (2023–ongoing). The exhibition offers a focused view of a photographic practice developed over more than three decades through sustained engagement with desert landscapes and temporary interventions.
De Stefano began photographing the deserts of Chihuahua and Sonora in the 1990s and gradually extended his practice to desert environments across the world. Throughout this trajectory, the desert has served as a site for constructing temporary situations with objects, structures, natural materials, light, and fire. His interventions are conceived in relation to specific landscapes and to the conditions under which they will be photographed. Scale, distance, weather, material, duration, and light all enter into the making of the image.
Storm of Light (2008–2018) developed through interventions in deserts including the Sahara, Atacama, Namib, Gobi, and Puna. Objects, structures, and human figures are placed within landscapes of immense scale, establishing relationships between the constructed and the surrounding terrain. The resulting photographs are shaped by the particular conditions of each location, with light playing an essential role in the way these interventions become visible within the frame.
In BURN (2023–ongoing), fire becomes part of the intervention itself. The project is organized around six dimensions identified by De Stefano—origin of life, flora, fauna, water, human presence, and philosophies of life—represented through different objects and structures placed in the landscape. Fire physically alters these elements during the action, introducing transformation into the process through which the photographs are made. The resulting images hold a specific moment within an event that unfolds through time.
Presented together, Storm of Light and BURN trace the continuity of De Stefano’s investigation while revealing its development through different materials, actions, and geographies. Across both bodies of work, photography remains closely connected to the construction of the situation itself. The landscape, the intervention, and the changing conditions of light converge within the photographic frame, making the circumstances of the image part of the work.
The opening of A Place for Light on October 10 will take place as part of
Little Haiti Little River Art Days, a quarterly neighborhood initiative highlighting arts, culture, dining, nightlife, and other local offerings. The program brings together participating venues across the neighborhood, inviting visitors to experience its cultural and creative activity throughout the day and evening.
