Between History and the body
July 9th Through October 16th, 2015
Brendan Fernandes, As One I, 2015. Silver Gelatin Print. Commissioned by Seattle Art Museum. [Image Description: A black and white photograph features a female dancer and three white, rectangular pedestals. The dancer, wearing a black leotard and ballet shoes, balances against the tallest pedestal at the center of the image, which features a mounted, carved mask on top.]
Between History and the Body looks closely at the ways in which cultural identity is defined, how it is used as a force of exclusion, and how it works as a unifying and transformative energy among artists of diverse cultural backgrounds.
Between History and the Body features artists Elia Alba, Firelei Baez, Nick Cave, Jean-Ulrick Désert, Nicolás Dumit Estévez, Brendan Fernandes, Jeffrey Gibson, Shaun Leonardo, Ana Mendieta, Paul Anthony Smith, Chungpo Tsering and Saya Woolfalk, who work across a variety of media including sculpture, painting, photography, performance and video. Together, these artists generate dialogue on cultural identity and history through representation of the body as an active force in ritual, both historic and imagined, and as an agent in the production of relics that communicate narratives of the Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa.
Installation views of “Between History and the Body” at The 8th Floor, July 2015. Photos by Jean Vong. Courtesy of the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation.