between three nations

This installation is part of a series of collaborations I have been working on with my mother, as nomads we deal with issues of displacement throughout our lives.  In the middle of the Installation, there is an image of a landscape including iconic buildings from different cities around the world in which we have traveled or lived, to create an ideal dream landscape. Parallel Line This collaboration with my mother was born in order to more fully understand the place we both came from. Taking a red tread from a prior performance "Red Line" I claimed a space in the Venezuelan Consul Gallery in New York. The red tread became a red line by the use of tape creating parallel lines that change in color, the lines hold multiple meanings, they became raw of text, distant horizons, solicited connectors. The lines and videos became entangle as they express ideas the story, memories, and the common nostalgic place of origin Together the silent lines and the echoing videos affirmed our lives and experiences, the story, and the material creation and interaction and deliberately claim the space that lure us into a state of otherness where momentarily we are no longer nomads.  

The male human body is used as a tool of seduction sharing a ritual practice that originally took in the country I was race, Venezuela. “Los diablos de Yares de Venezuela.” The work reflects the issues that nomads face: nostalgia, recalling homeland traditions in a new land, and loss of traditions that can’t be practiced anymore. 

The product of our sharing becomes sculptures, drawings, performances and installations.  These drawings, sculptures and performances are a combination of watching, waiting, and listening. My mother is my main collaborator in this project, she share her oral history as I observe remember with nostalgia moments in time that will never return. Together we share in a parallel line our experiences, creating a new art interaction.  In order to more fully claim our stories we draw with heavy yellow, red, black color lines using different material, thread, tape, and pencil. Speaking the oral history, the drawings, sculptural objects become an extension of our hands. The lines hold multiple meanings. They are rows of text, distant horizons, solicited connectors, and blue veins that pulsate throughout the story.  The lines and the videos became entangled as they expressed ideas about the story, memories, its psychological manifestations, and most importantly those common nostalgic places. Together the silent lines and the echoing videos affirmed our lives and experiences.

Through the eyes of love.  A safety pin is depicted as the first symbol of solidarity, education, and support for the victims of HIV/AIDS. The installation invites viewers to share experiences of loved ones lost during the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Let's never forget the millions lost during this HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Prison uniforms represent the bars of the cells; a video loop of inmate’s interaction is placed in the middle of the installation, inside a pile of uniforms. The main focus is to call attention to prison privatization. How politicians pass legislation such as “Three Strikes Your Out” to keep this new business full and profiting. The irony being a great number of these prisons were built on grounds of former plantation houses by African American and Mexicans inmates, the descendants of those who worked the land.

There is a subliminally sexual subtext in the case of The U.S.A.  flag performance. Analyzing the importance of what it represents, does it becomes diminished when it is plastered to any article of consumption for the sake of profit? In my video installation, I try to elevate the importance of the U.S.A. by painting the flag on 13 nude bodies. The flag was painted on 13 models that varied in shapes, ethnicity, and gender—in order to reflect changes in diversity, acceptance, and tolerance since the colonization of this nation. The videos show sensuality, sexuality, discomfort, and comfort. The work offers a chance to discuss and contemplate how far we want to go with the use of the U.S.A. flag and to share feelings about the commercialization and the flag sexualization (a made out word, again to reflect the power of language as a tool for inclusion and exclusion on a nation where must of the population are immigrants that speak different languages, yet the need for a conservative party to make English as the first language still in debate)  

Yellow grapes were chosen to symbolize the passing of the ecosystem and the abuse of our resources; the same way in Renaissance paintings, grapes were used to depict the passing or death of the child (Christ) The video installation uses recycled material and incorporates educational deforestation videos. Action is needed. Education is the key to stopping deforestation.

The work is based on the book "Sex Priests and Power, anatomy of a crisis, by A.W Richard Sipe. In it, "St. Agustine, bishop of North African town Hippo at the end of the fourth century... articulated with remarkable power his own compulsive youthful sexual activity of sexuality destructive to him and others. He insisted repeatedly that celibacy should not be universalized for all committed Christians, nor should be admired as the result of intransigent willpower... Ignoring his instance the sexual power is a gift, not the result of willpower. Celibacy developed as a requirement for all Catholic clergy. Perhaps, the reason why for centuries since Christianity was being formed has created the struggle to define the role of the body and sexuality in religious practice, creating the interconnection of power, sexuality, and secrecy on which the celibate-sexual system had been built. The system needs to end the struggle by taking responsibility; understanding, that celibacy can not be institutionalized, it is an interpersonal quest of spiritual relationship and religious desire.  We need to be empathetic for both the victims and priests.   The first video projection is a performance installation by the artist assuming the role of a priest and one of his young men posing as a victim. As I look for a Savior, I reflect. The work is a social commentary on the events that were discussed and that were sensationalized by the media in the year 2000 but which remain hushed after that. This piece gives the viewer an opportunity for dialog: Is this a dream? A desire? Or the painful reality of pedophilia (child abuse)  The second video projection is a performance by Reverend John, a former Roman Catholic priest and now a minister of the Methodist church. His performance reflects his letting go of Roman Catholicism and his movement into the Methodist faith that permits ministers to marry and welcomes gays and lesbians into the full life of the congregation, including ministry.  The sound, color, and composition of the images in both projections are joined using an editing process, which effectively creates a hypnotically powerful synthesis of subject matter and video technique. The different scenes in the performance articulate shifting points of view, significant spiritual moments, and the fragmentation of Catholicism in a modern world through non-verbal communication.

The viewers indulge in a surreal experience where the performer creates a wool curtain that challenges us to reflect on the labor-intense fashion Industry. Inspired by the work of Vanesa Beecroft. 

This artistic work analyses the popular belief seeing Obama as the savior of the Nation and the world, after eight years of the Republican government under the leadership of Bush Junior, which left the country in an economic crisis. The viewer is invited to contemplate on a seemingly lifeless tree, which hopefully generates a positive outlook and brighter future. Looking forward to what our Jesus savior Barack Obama will do for us.