SoMad NYC - FOGO!
SoMad is proud to present FOGO! an exhibition featuring Latinx artists in support of APIB (Brazilian's Indigenous People Articulation).
FOGO!
October 12–November 12, 2020
Gallery Hours: Monday–Friday, 12:00–6:00pm
Opening Reception: October 12, 2020, 3:00–9:00pm
SoMad 34 East 23rd Street, 4th Floor New York, New York 10010
Group Exhibition
Priscilla Aleman, Lucas Cesário, Jordan Corine Cruz, Luis A. Gutierrez, Jacinta Kaiser, Carla Maldonado, Jamie Martinez, Delfina Mun, Ibraim Nascimento, Rodrigo Oliveira, Lauren Noelle Oliver, Eduardo Palma, Marianna Peragallo, Lara Pinheiro, Alice Quaresma, Leonardo Ramadinha, Sara Aliaga Ticona, Athena Torri, Virginia Inés Vergara
Jacinta Kaiser (Chilean/American b.1980) Território: Nosso Corpo, Nosso Espírito 2020
Fogo translates from Portuguese to fire, in reference to the fires ravaging the Brazilian rainforest and wetlands. Brazil’s National Space Agency (INPE) identified that the number of Rainforest fires in 2020 have surged by 84%. The wetlands region alone has seen 50% more destruction than the fires currently consuming the North American West. The burning of the most biologically diverse habitat on the planet comes as a result of criminal exploitative actions led by president Jair Bolsonaro.
SoMad has united a community of artists and activists, embracing the power of art to affect social change, working to honor Latinx lives and territories, and bringing attention to those fighting for the Earth's survival. FOGO! features artists originating from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Puerto Rico. This exhibition celebrates the artists’ heritage and culturally-informed stylistic expressions.
Inspired by the life and work of Brazilian Indigenous activist and leader of the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB) Sônia Guajajara, the diverse group of Latinx artists featured in this show have come together to support the protection of the rainforest and wetlands. Guajajara is an active spokeswoman for the country’s Indigenous movement and is on the frontline of the fight, resisting destruction and death, demanding environmental and social justice. SoMad and the artists are proud to invest the gallery commissions from this show to benefit APIB, so they may continue to protect and preserve crucial natural and social ecosystems in the Amazon.
Athena Torri (Ecuadorian, b.1989) From That Mountain, He Comes Dancing 2018
In Devotional Altar Piece to the Tropics (2020) Priscilla Aleman utilizes her own body while exploring archaeological methods to engage with historic and imagined diasporic civilizations and Latinx identity; In Em Casa (2020), Lucas Cesário investigates Afro-Brazilian popular culture, reclaiming traditions and constructing alternative narratives in response to those attributed to his community by colonizers; In Double Six Set Prayer (2020) Jordan Corine Cruz signifies the nuanced aspects of a Puerto Rican tradition through materials that reference religious practices; In Untitled (2020) Luis A. Gutierrez, explores historical events centered around social injustices and the effects of imperialism; In Território: Nosso Corpo, Nosso Espírito (2020), Jacinta Kaiser, creates a colorful graphic of Indigenous leader Sônia Guajara, referencing psychedelic posters made by countercultures of the 1960s; In Self-Portrait Over the Bridge (2019) Carla Maldonado uses the device of reflection, photographed in her homeland of Brazil, ruminating on her experience as an immigrant living and working in the United States; In The Journey (2020), Jamie Martinez constructs, deconstructs, fragments images, data, and information geometrically into triangulated segments, depicting spiritual transformation; In Aldeia Boa Vista do Povo Huni Kuin do Rio Jordão (2018) Delfina Mun portrays an Indigenous plant ceremony drawing on her spiritual connection with the Amazonian Forest; RESISTÊNCIA (2020) by Ibraim Nascimento illustrates the strength of Sônia Guajajara through her portrait; In Carioca, Negro & Queer (2019/2020) Rodrigo Oliveira celebrates the lives and experiences of the LGBTQIA+ Black population from favelas within the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro; In Tug (2020) Lauren Noelle Oliver documents the ever-changing emotive body, dissuading prescribed sexualiztion; In A Bad Toothache (2020) Eduardo Palma portrays monuments to memory, articulated through linguistic tension; In Drip (2020) Marianna Peragallo has created playful anthropomorphic sculptures about the cross-sections of love, labor and endurance; In Meu Corpo Marcando o Local Sobre a Superfície (2020) Lara Pinheiro has become a living extension of her heritage and her country’s land; In Archipelago 3 (2018) Alice Quaresma considers displacement and identity through visual sensation; In Exu Comes First (2008–2020) 2 Leonardo Ramadinha represents the Afro-Brazilian religion, Umbanda, invoking Exu, the messenger who exists between physical and spiritual planes; In Sara Aliaga Ticona reclaims the term “Chola” (referring to Mestizo women from the highland areas,) celebrating her ancestors and their power; In From That Mountain, He Comes Dancing (2018) Athena Torri engages with Andean folklore to examine themes of gender, sexuality, and race in postcolonial South America; Using her own erosion technique in Represas: Blue Gold (2020) Virginia Inés Vergara creates natural landscapes through nontraditional photographic processes.
Art has institutionalized colonialist power structures for too long, it has appropriated and erased Latinx narratives globally, particularly within the United States of America. FOGO! confronts oppressive systems - it is an act of resistance and a call for radical change, meant to embolden Latinx artists and remind the community of its resilience. FOGO! sparks revelation.
Delfina Mun (Argentinian, b.1992) Aldeia Boa Vista do Povo Huni Kuin do Rio Jordão (Boa Vista Village of the Huni Kuin People of Jordão River) 2018
Acrylic on Canvas, 26x26in, Unique © Delfina Mun. Courtesy of the artist
Delfina Mun (Argentinian, b.1992) is an Indigenist, visual artist, musician, and translator. Her work aims to weave art and spirituality, fortifying alliances that support a harmonious connection to nature. In Aldeia Boa Vista do Povo Huni Kuin do Rio Jordão (2018), the serpent of transformation is depicted digging at the roots of what needs to be changed fundamentally to ascend into the light of the moon, the sun and the stars, rising with the butterflies and winged beings who teach the lightness of spirit. Every one of her creations, a song, a painting or a dance, begins from a story. Each creation carries the energy and strength of that story.
Mun directs projects of cultural development within remote Indigenous communities of the Amazon Rainforest, bridging worlds through art and training artists in periods of deep study and co-creation. She studied at the National University of Arts in Buenos Aires and continued her studies with a focus in Sacred and Traditional Arts by traveling to learn from ancestral cultures in their native environments. Mun has recently exhibited paintings and recorded live prayers at The Botanical Mind: Art, Mysticism and the Cosmic Tree at the Camden Arts Centre, London, UK. Her work has been featured by the Royal Academy of Arts, Art Quarterly, The Wire Magazine, and others.
Full Exhibition Catalogue here
Somad website
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