Friday, November 16, 2018

Contemporary Art of the Caribbean Archipelago at Frost Art Museum FIU

Nadia Huggins, Selections from the series Circa No Future, 2014, Digital photographs, Courtesy of the artist

Marianela Orozco, Horizons, 2012, Digital print, Courtesy of the artist

Miguel Luciano, Amani Kites, SmART Power, KenyaCourtesy of the Artist

Camille Chedda, Wholesale Degradables (detail), 2014-2015, Acrylic paint on plastic bags, (photo by Jose Lima)

Camille Chedda, Wholesale Degradables, 2014-2015, Acrylic paint on plastic bags, (photo by Jose Lima)

Camille Chedda, Wholesale Degradables (detail), 2014-2015, Acrylic paint on plastic bags, (photo by Jose Lima)

Camille Chedda, Wholesale Degradables (detail), 2014-2015, Acrylic paint on plastic bags, (photo by Jose Lima)

Camille Chedda, Wholesale Degradables (detail), 2014-2015, Acrylic paint on plastic bags, (photo by Jose Lima)

Camille Chedda, Wholesale Degradables (detail), 2014-2015, Acrylic paint on plastic bags, (photo by Jose Lima)

Kishan Munroe, The Sinking of HMBS Flamingo, 2014, Oil and acrylic on canvas, Collection of Royal Bahamas Defence Force

Didier William, Dancing, Pouring, Crackling and Mourning, 2015

 The Sculpture Park at Florida International University

Elizabeth Turk in her studio

Frost Art Museum

Florida International University

Sixty-seven contemporary Caribbean artists
with roots in:
Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, 
Puerto Rico, Curacao, Aruba, Saint Maarten,
Martinique, Guadeloupe, Trinidad,
Jamaica, The Bahamas, Barbados and Saint
Vincent
.
Relational Undercurrents: 
Contemporary Art of the Caribbean 
Archipelago (Oct. 13 – Jan. 13)
headlines the powerful new season of
exhibitions and programming for
Art Basel 2018 at
Florida International
University’s Frost Art Museum
in Miami.

This is the first major survey of
this size and scope of 21st century
art by 67 contemporary
Caribbean artists
representing 14
Caribbean countries
, whose works
offer expansive perspectives that
transcend the boundaries imposed
upon Caribbean cultures.

“Because of Miami’s geographic
proximity to the Caribbean nations,
as well as our cultural mosaic
which Caribbean cultures have
shaped,
it was important for us to
bring this exhibition to Miami
during Art Basel season,
” said
Dr. Jordana Pomeroy, the Director of
the museum. “Our new season
opens
up a dialogue about global
commonalities rather than
differences, from ecological
changes to societal values around
the world
.”

Nearly seventy works by
Caribbean painters, installation
artists, sculptors, photographers,
video and performance artists
connect through ideas that go
beyond language barriers,
politics, and historic colonial
divides. Artists in
Relational Undercurrents
include: Allora & Calzadilla,
Edouard Duval-Carrie, Adler
Guerrier, Deborah Jack,
Glenda Leon, Beatriz
Santiago Munoz, Angel Otero,
Manuel Pina, Maria
Magdalena Campos-Pons,
Jimmy
Robert and Didier William
,
among others.

Features more than 67
contemporary 
artists with 
roots in Haiti, the 
Dominican Republic, Cuba,
Puerto Rico, Curacao,
Aruba, Saint Maarten,
Martinique, Guadeloupe,
Trinidad, Jamaica, The 
Bahamas, Barbados and
Saint Vincent.

Departing from the premise
that the concept of Latin
America favors mainland
countries, the exhibition
proposes a mapping of the
region that begins with
the islands. Arising from a
legacy of colonialism,
recurrent themes include
race and ethnicity, history,
identity, sovereignty,
migration and
sustainability
.

The works in this exhibition
speak for the Caribbean’s
indigenous peoples whose
homes were fractured and
divided by colonialism.
These are spaces that
were mercilessly exploited
for labor and goods by
distant European
monarchies.
This area also
marks the site of one of the
West’s first rebellions (the 
Haitian slave revolt which led
to the independence of the
island in 1804) and the Cuban
War of Independence in 1898,
a byproduct of the Spanish-
American War.

The Caribbean is inhabited by
many different indigenous
cultures whose languages
include Spanish, Dutch,
English, French and
Creole.
Although the Caribbean
has been fragmented by
centuries of tyranny
and 
 domination, the contemporary artists
in this 
exhibition draw
upon themes of 
connection that
often envision what 
lies beyond imposed
borderlines.
The exhibition is comprised of the
following 
four sections:
Conceptual Mappings
Artists in this section challenge the organization of
traditional maps. In contrast to colonial maps,
these artists create images that inspire a process
of decolonization, creating new spaces that suggest
a more diverse, just and complex concept of the
world.
Perpetual Horizons
Horizons are the prominent characteristic of island
geography, 
representing boundaries and possibilities. Whether the artists in this section
incorporate 
the horizon as a portal to the past or present, or as a representation of limit or
potential, each 
artist in this section contributes to
a common dialogue 
about this prominent feature
where they live - offering strength in 
the acceptance of infinity.
Landscape Ecologies
The Caribbean is a region of shared ecosystems
and inhabitants. Artists in this section depict
landscapes in relation with to history, ecological
issues, and current social and economic issues.
Perceptions of the Caribbean have shifted
throughout history from those of wonder, to
fears of disease and degeneration during the
height of colonialism.
Representational Acts
All Caribbean islands have seen their autonomy
challenged through colonialism and foreign 
occupations. Political agency is elusive and, in many cases, unattainable. Representation
takes on an urgency for 
artists in Relational
Undercurrents, who actively reconfigure the 
world they inhabit through social practice and
self-expression.

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