MILWAUKEE — Handmade ceramic lizards with tails that transform into flowers cling to the walls of photographer Widline Cadet’s exhibition at the Milwaukee Art Museum. The small creatures crouch low or hang from ceiling corners as if quietly accompanying visitors through the artist’s first solo institutional show in the United States, mapping a terrain of displacement and adaptation.
Cadet, who grew up in Haiti and now lives in Los Angeles, immigrated to New York City at age 10 to join her mother, who had come years before. In the United States, where immigration remains a fraught and violent issue, museum exhibitions that give human dimension to these experiences feel especially necessary.
Using a wide range of photo-based processes, Cadet examines separation and memory while also reflecting on how different media preserve and shape personal histories. Her work suggests the movement from dusty analog photo albums to cell phone videos, and the way each format holds onto family narratives in distinct ways.
