February 6 - 20, 2025
From Un Grito Gallery:
“Un Grito Gallery is pleased to present “Ahāuh: Mi Cuerpo” an exhibition of recent works by Guillermina Zabala. This show will open Thursday, February 6th and Friday, February 7th, 2025, from 7-10 pm with a closing reception held on February 20th, 2025.
This body of work culminates in an interdisciplinary installation consisting of a series of linocut prints, mixed media photography, and digital video exploring the transformation from childhood to womanhood through the fancy shawl dance performed by Destiny Hernandez. This piece presents iconography related to femininity and the representation of the female body from the Payaya people, a Coahuiltecan group of Native Americans who lived in the San Antonio River Valley (Yanaguana River, as they referred to) before the arrival of Europeans. The title of the exhibit Ahāuh means “body” in Coahuiltecan.
This exhibit focuses on a re-interpretation of the fancy shawl dance with specific regalia inspired by the water streams from the Yanaguana river. The movements of the shawl dance represent the metamorphosis process of the butterfly, and it is considered an analogy of the rite of passage from childhood to womanhood.
This project was made possible with the support of the City of San Antonio’s Department of Arts.
Artist Bio: Born in Argentina, Guillermina Zabala is an award-winning media artist and educator whose art examines the intersection between the individual and their environment. Her films and artworks have been exhibited in museums, galleries, and film festivals nationally and internationally, including the McNay, SAMA, Contemporary at Blue Star, Telluride Film Festival, Torino Film Festival and Showtime Latino Showcase. Her documentary Las Artivistas won the Social Impact Award at the 2024 Activists Without Borders Film Festival in Manchester, UK and Premio Mezquite for Best Documentary Short at the 2022 CineFestival. Her feature documentary Juanito’s Lab was the opening film at the 2021 edition of the festival in its out-of-competition category. Guillermina is Professor of Practice and Assistant Director of UTSA’s Film & Media Studies. She holds a Master of Arts in Media Studies from The New School. She is the recipient of Rick Liberto Award (Luminaria), City of San Antonio Individual Grant, Media Arts Distinguished Thesis Award (The New School), SA Artist Foundation Award, and the NALAC Fund for the Arts, among others.”
Reception: February 6, 2025 | 7–10 pm
Closing: February 20, 2025 | 7–10 pm
1420 South Alamo Street
San Antonio, 78204 Texas
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