Image of installation with 3 mannequins and “skirt” works and two large paintings
>>KILLING
TIME, May 12 to July 27, 2007, Exit Art, New York
Image of installation with 3 mannequins and “skirt” works and two
large paintings
Tia Revolucionaria,
1994
Fabric and bullet shells
Variable dimensions
Joan Guaita Collection, Palma de Mallorca
Tia Farmacia, 1994
Fabric, soap, shampoo, shaving blades, medicine bottles and other toiletries
Variable dimensions
Joan Guaita Collection, Palma de Mallorca
Tia Tabacalera, 1995
Fabric and tobacco boxes, replicas of photographs and documents
Variable dimensions
Courtesy of the artist
Collectively, these works extend my work with Miami Quinceañeras and
Chaperonas. The works are based on skirts made and worn by women in my family.
My mother, aunts and female cousins were gifted seamstresses throughout their
lives, sewing gorgeous dresses for themselves and more practical clothes for
the family.
These re-creations of actual functional skirts were originally conceived to
underline illicit transfers of goods and materials within Cuba at war and later
between the island and the United States. As saddles for re-defined Femme Cheval,
these garments transform public bodies into private carriers and transmitters
of need, survival, hope and dreams.
Tia Revolucionaria (actual 1957) celebrates the valor of my female
relatives who carried guns and ammunitions to Rebels fighting with Fidel in
the countryside. Tia Farmacia (actual 1980s) highlights the spunk and
ingenuity of women mariposas taking medicines and toiletries to relatives on
the island. Tia Tabacalera (actual 1990s) alludes to women smuggling
from Cuba cigars, family photographs and documents of properties which exiles
hope to use to reclaim their homes, businesses and farms after the revolution.
Installed with two recent paintings about cultural/monetary transfer and exchange:
Untitled (Salvador’s
Vessel), 2007
Printed fabric with paints and inks, steel rods
33 1⁄2” x 80 3⁄4”
Courtesy of the artist
Untitled (Joan’s Olives),
2006
Printed fabric with paints and inks, steel rods
33 1⁄2” x 80 3⁄4”
Courtesy of the artist
>>CHRONOLOGY<<