2025 Waggoner Research Colloquium

34th Annual CLACS Waggoner Colloquium: Creative Visual Practice: Art, Film, & Design 

 At last year’s Waggoner Colloquium on November 7, faculty, administrators, and graduate students were treated to a spectacle.  Hispano Durón (Film Studies) presented a graphic talk on his new documentary “A Banana Grower in his Labyrinth”.  This creative, collaborative research project explores the life of Rafael López Padilla, a Honduran banana grower who, after profiting from trade with the United Fruit Company in the early 1900s, became a prominent critic of its abuses. The film draws from renowned Honduran historian Dr. Darío A. Euraque’s biography of López Padilla to illuminate a pivotal chapter in Central American history. 

Michael Krueger (Visual Art) then presented the highly engaging, “Drawing from Asunción: Art, Memory, and Community”.  He reflected on his decades-long engagement with contemporary art in Asunción, Paraguay, and how it has shaped his understanding of artistic communities across the Americas. He explored the distinct character of the Paraguayan art scene, sharing the work of the diverse artists that make up the remarkably rich art community in Paraguay. Through personal narrative and artistic insight, Krueger offered a perspective on how place and cultural exchange inform the evolution of artistic vision. 

Tim Hossler (Architecture & Design) kept the audience mesmerized with provocative architectural photos from his exhibit, “Connecting Concrete: Modernist Architecture from Havana to Miami”, that was displayed in the Miami International Airport.  “Connecting Concrete” examines how the architectural aesthetics of these cities converge through their shared use of concrete as a medium of modernist expression.  Designed in collaboration with photographer Silvia Ros, the project highlights the poetic beauty, resilience, and enduring cultural dialogue embedded in the built environments of Havana and Miami.