One of the most important experimental writers of the twentieth century, Jorge Luis Borges is paid tribute in this exhibit of 180 informal black-and-white and color photographs of the master and his wife and assistant, Maria Kodama, as they traveled the globe in the waning years of his life and he reaped the rewards–such as they were, since he had gone blind–of his fame, collecting plaudits and sacks full of honorary degrees. Divided into groups by the places where the couple tarried, the images show an old man with a round face, often with a cane or on Maria’s arm, who is not particularly expressive (for obvious reasons) and who evokes meditations in the viewer on the ravages of time. The texts from Borges’ works that accompany the images drawn from Maria’s personal trove are, in contrast with the latter, drenched in distilled reflective wisdom. “Perhaps age and fear deceive me,” writes Borges, “but I expect that the human being will be extinguished and that the Library will last.” Appropriately, we see him sitting on a chair imprisoned (protected?) by stacks of books. We are aware that he cannot see them. Warning: The wall texts are in Spanish, the stops on the victory tour are not identified, dates are not provided and circumstances are not described. (Michael Weinstein)
Through March 26 at the Instituto Cervantes, 31 West Ohio
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