|
I am very grateful and honored to have been invited by Dr. Jane Lavery and Dr. Sarah Bowskill to participate in their research project. I apologize for taking so long to post these videos—nevertheless, here are English and Spanish versions explaining their project. They were created for Dr. Jane Lavery of Southampton University, Southampton, England and Dr. Sarah Bowskill of Queens University, Belfast, Ireland for their research project on the Multimedia Works of Contemporary Spanish American Women Artists and Writers.
0 Comments
I have had the pleasure of participating in the National Museum of Mexican Art's Day of the Dead exhibits on 3 previous occasions. The past exhibits in which I was involved were very "traditional" in content displaying a large variety of altars (ofrendas), as well as paintings, and sculptures, honoring the memory of the deceased. Día de Muertos: A Spiritual Legacy is just as traditional, yet inspired by the Mesoamerican shaft tombs in which individuals were buried with objects and gear for the next life. While the exhibit will still have ofrendas, and other works of art typically displayed in Day of the Dead exhibits, it also includes work with a slight twist. In my opinion, this work approaches the subject matter from the viewpoint of the departed by specifically exploring the question, "What would you take with you when you die?" Thirty artists were invited to participate—we were all given a “veliz”, a suitcase, to use in any way we desired in response to the question posed. The exhibit opened Friday, September 21, and will continue through December 9, 2018. Hope you can see the exhibit and support the National Museum of Mexican Art.  Untitled, 15.75" x 9.5" x 4.75", Mixed Media, August 2018, Top exterior of veliz created for the National Museum of Mexican Art's "Dia de Los Muertos: A Spiritual Legacy".   About the Piece
Personally, I do not believe that when I die, I will simply cease to exist and although this belief is viewed as naïve by many, I have faith that when I take my last breath, my spirit will leave my body and instantly be in heaven with my memory intact—memories of my life and of those I have loved. Therefore, in response to the question: “What would you take with you when you die?”, I would take 3 intangibles: faith in my God’s promise of eternal life, memories of events and experiences of my life here on earth, and finally, love for family and friends. The entire exterior of the veliz represents my faith, hence, the use of torn bible verses and a white dove to symbolize Christianity. The image on the exterior top was used in keeping with Matthew 18:3, which states, “ …Except ye be converted, and become as little children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” Obviously, neither the part of the verse that states, “…become as little children” nor the image of a child on the top of the veliz is meant to be taken literally—the verse and image speak to childlike faith, innocence, and trust in God. Because I believe that my memory will be intact when I reach heaven, it was an important element in this piece. Thus, the top interior conveys memory by using mementos from important events in my life. These remembrances serve only as associative mechanisms and not anything I would physically take with me. Finally, the bottom interior of the veliz illustrates the love I have for my family and friends. This love is depicted through the use of photographs, which were chosen because the essence of each individual was perfectly captured at a moment in time. Consequently, I felt it fitting to include these images as a collage. The heart, an obvious symbol of love, has visible heartstrings to convey the idea that the intense love one has for others can cause some individuals to linger a while longer on earth. Nevertheless, one must depart and to do so, detachment is necessary. For this reason, the heartstrings have been cut and placed in a pile along with a pair of scissors. P.S. Special thanks to my brother Javier Acevedo, for helping me with power tool “challenges”, or my ineptitude. Although I was invited to participate, I could not; therefore, I asked Jesse Arseneau to create this video for the Society for Latin American Studies Annual Conference held at the University of Southampton's Winchester in March of this year. I was invited to participate in the National Museum of Mexican Art's Day of the Dead exhibit titled Veliz, which will open in September of this year. The Veliz concept answers the question, "What would you take with you when you die?" I have begun to prepare a small suitcase, which will answer this question . . .
I just completed another website exclusively for my poetry and vignettes. To see it, please go to:
https://pilar-acevedo-poetry.weebly.com  Sleep, 9 x 12 inches, Oil on Canvas, October 1993 Sexual abuse can happen across all ages, but molestation is strictly limited to younger children. Because a child’s penis or vagina is too small for physical penetration, molestation occurs when the child is "forced to perform oral sex, touched in an inappropriate manner, and/or made to watch the adult masturbate. Sexual abuse happens over a longer period of time and involves actual physical penetration, in addition to everything that is included in molestation. The above quote is from: http://www.kidslivesafe.com/child-safety/sexual-molestation-vs-sexual-abuse A few years ago, I came across a video on the internet about a Peruvian girl by the name of Lina Medina who gave birth at the age of 5 years, 7 months, and 21 days. The focus of that particular documentary was about the pregnancy, her age and the medical condition called "precocious puberty", which enabled the pregnancy at such a young age. So, this was a case of sexual abuse and yet, there was absolutely NO discussion about the abuse or the man who abused Lina and finally impregnated her. She was a child of 4 years of age, still playing with dolls, and had no idea what was being done to her. How can a 4 year old even begin to wrap her mind around such a thing? Why, as a society, were we more consumed by the oddity of the age of the pregnancy rather than being outraged and disgusted by the action of the male who perpetrated such a violation on a child? This was in 1939 and yet, this abuse continues; children are still being neglected and sexually abused and molested.  A picture is worth a thousand words. This is a picture of Lina Medina and her son, Gerardo. Here's the harsh reality and hopefully, food for thought and ultimately, a call to action:
For a very informative PDF, Child Sexual Abuse Statistics, go to Darkness to Light at: https://www.d2l.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/all_statistics_20150619.pdf  Lollipop, 7 x 10 inches, Sketch Conte Crayon & Charcoal on Paper, November 2010 Abstract: The above abstract was written by Dr. Bowskill and obtained from the below link.
I am elated that the article, Bearing Witness to Child Abuse and Trauma in Pilar Acevedo's Multimedia Fragmentos Exhibition, is now available online with the Bulletin of Spanish Visual Studies. . https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/24741604.2018.1453017 The following is from Dr. Sarah Bowskill's webiste: https://sarahbowskill.net/multimedia-women Multimedia Women and Digital Cultural Studies |
Archives
September 2018
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed