DAR a Luz
DAR a Luz, 2018, Photo by Kolin Mendez
Hábito: DAR a Luz responds to Martha Araujo’s Hábito/Habitante (no relation to artist), where performers interact with massive forms of cloth, creating a movement-based dialogue between their bodies, the public, and the museum space. By carefully training her body to carry and transmit energy, Araujo will give light (DAR a Luz) to a complex circuit worn as a suit - alluding to women’s creative quality to give birth. In this action, the artist investigates the role of women in a moving meditation in relation to herself and those around her, and in shedding light uses determination and knowledge to overcome challenge. “In building the habit, and preparing for the performance, I have found clarity in terms of the beauty and risk/difficulty that giving light entails - that to me represents the reality of women in Latin America. I know that having a battery and microcontroller inside your body is dangerous, but so is being a woman in Latin America. From a place of acknowledgment, I am taking all the actions to be safe and present the female body as a source of enlightenment and community following in the footsteps of generations that came before me,” said Araujo. The performance will include a journey through the relativity of time as the body deteriorates, investigating ideas of resistance, persistence, and perseverance, as well as breaking free from the norms of society.
Cuerpxs Radicales: Radical Bodies in Performances presents new and recent work by contemporary Latinx artists as they respond to themes in our exhibition Radical Women: Latin American Art, 1960–1985. The three-day series Cuerpxs Radicales (taking place July 5, 12, and 19) curated by Marlene Ramirez-Cancio and Lauren Zelaya showcases female-identified and gender-nonconforming Latinx artists in the greater NYC area who are exploding rigid notions of femininity. Featuring performance, visual art, literature, music, and everything in between, it centers a younger generation engaging with our current political and cultural landscape. Presented in partnership with NYU’s Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics.
Photos by Caroline Alarcón Loor
Additional Photos by Wei Chao