Casa Otro is proud to open its 2026 exhibition calendar with Fantasmas, a powerful new body of work by New Mexico–based artist Adrian Aguirre. This series responds to news photographs of refugees deported to a high-security prison in El Salvador, images that reveal a new threshold of cruelty, where people are stripped of liberty and identity without due process. As photojournalist Philip Holsinger observed, the imprisoned men had become “ghosts.” Unlike Aguirre’s earlier portraits that sought to affirm presence and individuality, these drawings explore the visual language of dehumanization itself. Some figures are rendered in a higher key, their lightness contrasting sharply with the dark silhouettes of prison guards. Others are weighted down, their bodies bent toward the ground under the force of subjugation. Through these contrasts, Aguirre aims to confront viewers with the transformation of human beings into spectral presences, figures caught between visibility and erasure, spirit and body, autonomy and control.
The exhibition opens January 3, 2026, with a public reception from 4-7 pm at Casa Otro in Mesilla, NM, and remains on view through February 1.
Adrián Aguirre (b. 1980, Ciudad Juárez) is a Mexican American artist whose childhood spent crossing the El Paso/Juárez border daily profoundly shaped his exploration of borders and immigration. He holds an MFA from the University of North Texas and was named one of the 12 Artists to Know in New Mexico by Southwest Contemporary in 2022. A member of Strata Gallery in Santa Fe, Aguirre works primarily in drawing and painting, rendering expressive portraits that evoke the lived experiences of displaced communities. His practice draws from firsthand encounters with immigrants and refugees as well as news imagery to highlight the human consequences of border enforcement and immigration policy.
Casa Otro is a mixed-use gallery and artist residency in Mesilla, New Mexico, dedicated to creative exchange.
