>>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

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