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<\/p>\nWhen artist Carlos Viani\u2019s father disappeared in Lima, Peru in the late 1970s, he left behind a mystery.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t have a memory of that particular moment, but it was most likely my mother that told me, \u2018Your father left for good. We don\u2019t know where he is and we might never find out,\u2019\u201d Viani said.<\/p>\n
Viani took his father\u2019s absence hard. His performance in school dipped and he began to challenge authority figures in his life. He also became increasingly obsessed with finding his dad.<\/p>\n
His search continued for the next four decades.<\/p>\n
Then, in 2015, Viani received a unexpected email from the Orange County coroner\u2019s office informing him of his father\u2019s death. He flew to the county where his father had been living for the last four decades, to make funeral arrangements and to sort through his belongings. But the mystery was hardly solved.<\/p>\n
The coroner office\u2019s referred to Viani using a phrase he was not familiar with; he was designated as J.C. Viani\u2019s \u201cnext of kin.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know that expression,\u201d Viani said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Artist Carlos Viani at his \u201cNext of Kin\u201d exhibition at the Grand Central Art Center in Santa Ana. <\/p>\n
(Don Leach \/ Staff Photographer)<\/p>\n
Viani\u2019s new exhibition at Grand Central Art Center in Santa Ana borrows the phrase for the show\u2019s title. In \u201cNext of Kin,\u201d which opened Saturday, Viani unravels his father\u2019s story through an experimental investigation that includes short fiction, video performance and photographs.<\/p>\n
Viani is not only a visual artist, but also an author and educator who was born in Lima and currently lives and works in Montreal. His exhibition is reminiscent of a cold case in which the artist employs the methodology of a detective or journalist, searching old photographs for clues, interviewing witnesses and cataloging evidence in a thorough and meticulous manner. But the mystery Viani is hoping to solve through his exploration isn\u2019t what happened to father; but rather who his father was.<\/p>\n
Using his father\u2019s collection of business cards, Viani visited places he frequented, including the Golden West College swap meet where he worked selling items, the Walgreens he shopped at and the parking spaces behind a store where his body was eventually found in his car. Viani photographed these spaces and arranged them against a map of Orange County, charting the comings and goings in search of patterns.<\/p>\n
Viani also conducted a series of interviews, displayed on clear clipboards along one wall, with people who knew his father; friends, an old roommate, family members and even his own mother. They provided him a look at his father as an individual outside of his parenting role.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like the moon, you know? You only see one side. Their parent side is what they are offering you. But how about their lover side, their business side? That is why I needed to do these interviews,\u201d Viani said. \u201cTalking to these different people shows me the sides I would never be able to see.\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Artist Carlos Viani at his \u201cNext of Kin\u201d exhibition at the Grand Central Art Center in Santa Ana. Viani\u2019s father disappeared in Lima, Peru in 1978, leaving behind a mystery he explores in the show.<\/p>\n
(Don Leach \/ Staff Photographer)<\/p>\n
A book of photos produced in 2024 contains images Viani took of his father\u2019s personal belongings, like the keys to a Bank of America safe box, an old black-and-white photo of Viani\u2019s mother and father together, smiling.<\/p>\n
\u201cIts a narration made out of images,\u201d said Viani. \u201cThere is no text.\u201d<\/p>\n
Each item is cataloged in an index at the back of the book, simply and clinically, like a list of evidence. Among the most intriguing is a human skull Viani\u2019s father excavated from the Pachacamac archaeological site as a young man. He left the skull behind in Peru and it was one of the few items the family had to remember him by.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mother is a very superstitious person, and she thought that the skull that my father left at home would guard the house,\u201d Viani said.<\/p>\n
In a short film Viani created that plays in the exhibition, he digs into sand to bury the skull, finally putting it to rest. It is an apt metaphor for the act of digging deep and the closure of a proper burial.<\/p>\n
The exhibition contains one more important piece of ephemera Viani\u2019s father left in plain sight on his nightstand for someone to find. It\u2019s an envelope containing two childhood photographs of Viani and a piece of paper printed from the internet with Viani\u2019s picture and contact information.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile I was looking for him, my father had already found me,\u201d said Viani.<\/p>\n
The show evokes universal feelings of abandonment and the grief of not knowing. Viani said his investigation offers many opportunities for connection.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe father figure is something we all experience, and the estranged father is another subset of that figure. In a way, I would like people to see something that can happen to anyone,\u201d said Viani.<\/p>\n
Viani added that the show is an invitation for viewers to reflect on their own families, their interactions with them, and how those experiences have an impact on their lives. Maybe it can even condition some of their future actions, he suggests. The struggle to really know and understand those we love, even when they are present, can be difficult.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am hoping people relate to show at the human level,\u201d said Viani. \u201cEvery family has secrets.\u201d<\/p>\n