Spencer Finch graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in comparative literature from Hamilton College, then pursued an M.F.A. in sculpture from the Rhode Island School of Design, graduating in 1989. He was in the 2004 Whitney Biennial; the first retrospective of his work, in 2007- 2008, took place at MASS MoCA. He currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Finch was the only artist commissioned to create work for the just-opened 9/11 Memorial Museum, and he recently completed an installation at the Morgan Library in New York.

Jorge Otero’s family was a part of the post-1959 Cuban diaspora. The artist arrived in the US as a teenager; he later attended the Pratt Institute in New York, He graduated after having been drafted and serving in the US Army in North Africa and Europe. He subsequently received an MFA from the University of South Carolina. Late in life he settled in New Orleans. Following his unexpected death in 2003, many of his documents and digitized catalog were destroyed in Katrina, but most of his printed photographs survived.

Otero traveled and photographed extensively throughout his life, including a month-long project on the Amazon river. He was also an instructor and educator, teaching photography from elementary to university levels. Otero’s work is represented in numerous private and institutional collections, including the South Carolina State Art Collection and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art.