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The task was daunting.

And Traci Quinn and Stefan Batista were up to the challenge.

The duo worked together as co-curators of the “Future Tense,” which is on display at 516 Arts.

The exhibit highlights CENTER photographers and is an exploration of the socially, politically and psychologically complex relationship with the places we inhabit.

BATISTA: Co-curator of “Future Tense” exhibit

Quinn and Batista went through thousands of photographs from a five-year period.

And through a process, they were able to curate the exhibit.

The pair will lead a conversation about the exhibit at 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 25, at 516 Arts.

Recognizing the complex nature of the human and global condition, the talk asks visitors to explore photographs as moments, journeys and thought-provoking metaphors that implicate our present tense, a time marked by a great shift in a world that has grown urgently interconnected yet increasingly divergent. The evident existence of humans in the contemporary landscape will be explored at the intersections of visuality and aesthetics in photography.

QUINN: Curator of programs at UNM Art Museum

Quinn is the curator of education and public programs at the University of New Mexico Art Museum.

Quinn says that while curating the exhibit, the pair each made a list and compared them.

“The ones we were both interested in, there was something ambiguous,” she says. “There wasn’t this obvious story. A lot of them were also exploring these complex relationships that we have with our current environment. We were looking at the physical environment and the psychological. Then there’s a virtual element.”

Quinn and Batista will keep the talk short, as they want to have time to chat or answer any questions from the audience.

“We want this to be as collaborative as we can,” she says. “Oftentimes, events like these tend to run long without a lot of answers.”

For more information on the exhibit and talk, visit 516arts.org.