September 9 - November 5, 2022
From UTSA:
“CORPUS is comprised of ceramic and fabric works that encourage reflection on the meaning of survival in the face of colonialism. Fifteen ceramic sculptures, each with matching tapestries, will be presented in a symbolic representation of the annual Corpus Christi festival in Cusco, Perú. The sculptures reference indigenous pre-Columbian forms and iconographies in a visual representation of syncretic aesthetic, cultural, and religious traditions.
Velarde says of her work “I approach Pre-Colombian aesthetics searching for cultural and ethnic commonalities, claiming them as my heritage while engaging the audience in conversations about colonization and coloniality, contemporary history, social justice and racism.”
CORPUS engages with and confronts Perú’s Spanish colonial past by asserting that pre-Columbian sacred entities and the worldview they inhabit were not vanquished by Spanish conquerors, but instead cleverly blended with their Catholic counterparts, ensuring their survival. So too, have the diverse peoples of Perú and greater Latin America formed and reformed political, religious, and cultural identity in the shadow of centuries-long oppression. Velarde’s CORPUS asks viewers to consider this resilience via her stunningly detailed and humorously thought-provoking work.
Velarde raises fascinating questions about the inner life of art objects, as well as the exotic “Othering” of sacred rituals like Corpus Christi that now also serve as tourist attractions for visitors to Perú.
Pre-Colombian art is my most genuine aesthetic inheritance,” Velarde says. “It is what people who look like me created in their likeness long ago, when they were the center of their own universe.”
Kukuli Velarde: CORPUS was organized as a touring exhibition by the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art at the College of Charleston School of the Arts; the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College, and Southwest School of Art, now the University of Texas at San Antonio’s Southwest Campus.
ABOUT KUKULI VELARDE
Kukuli Velarde, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is a multi-talented artist, working in ceramics, painting, drawing, and installation. Velarde received a BFA from Hunter College in New York City. She is the recipient of such awards as the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship (2015), Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant (2012), and Joan Mitchell Foundation grant (1997). Her work can be found in the collections of Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Lima, Perú; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and in the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, among many other art venues.
Kukuli Velarde’s website is KukuliVelarde.com“
Reception: September 9, 2022 | 5:30–8 pm
Russell Hill Rogers Galleries at UTSA Southwest
1201 Navarro Street
San Antonio, 78205 TX
210-224-1848
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