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A Natural Turn features the work of four artists living in the Americas: María Berrío (Colombian, b. 1982), Joiri Minaya (Dominican-United Statesian, b. 1990), Rosana Paulino (Brazilian, b. 1967), and Kelly Sinnapah Mary (Indo-Guadeloupean, b. 1981). Pushing the boundaries of figuration, Berrío, Minaya, Paulino, and Sinnapah create bold and unforgettable images of truth and fiction within both personal and collective histories. Their works exist at the intersection of individual imagination and our shared natural, socio- and geopolitical landscapes—a unique space that mixes both beauty and violence at once.
Surrealism of “traditional" art history is often associated with male artists from Western Europe who sought to challenge aesthetic norms by unleashing the power of dreams and unconscious desires to challenge our ordinary perception. Though it often relied on narrow, patriarchal views about gender and sexuality, surrealism still presents itself as a useful and radical strategy for contemporary artists. Within A Natural Turn, Berrío, Minaya, Paulino, and Sinnapah question Western and Eurocentric standards of beauty, femininity, and womanhood by reimagining the surreal—creating imaginary journeys around the metamorphoses of the body and redefining what it means to be human. For these artists, surreal imagery is useful in that it can at once call attention to the conflicted legacies of imperialism and colonialism, challenge the status quo, and subvert one's experience of reality. Surrealism within this exhibition is a means to interrogate structures of power. A Natural Turn pushes beyond borders—those defined by geography, nationality, or language—to expand our understanding of the real and the imagined.
Un giro natural incluye obras de cuatro artistas que viven en el continente americano: María Berrío (colombiana, n. 1982), Joiri Minaya (dominicana-estadounidense, n. 1990), Rosana Paulino (brasileña, n. 1967) y Kelly Sinnapah Mary (india-guadalupeña, n. 1981). Empujando los límites de la figuración, Berrío, Minaya, Paulino y Sinnapah crean imágenes atrevidas e inolvidables de verdad y ficción dentro de historias a la vez personales y colectivas. Sus obras existen en la intersección de la imaginación individual con nuestros paisajes naturales, socio y geopolíticos compartidos: un espacio único que mezcla al mismo tiempo la belleza y la violencia. El surrealismo de la historia “tradicional" del arte se compone principalmente de artistas hombres con un legado europeo occidental que buscaron desafiar las normas estéticas desatando el poder de los sueños y los deseos inconscientes para desafiar nuestra percepción ordinaria. Aunque frecuentemente se basó en puntos de vista estrechos y patriarcales sobre el género y la sexualidad, el surrealismo aún se presenta como una estrategia útil y radical para los artistas contemporáneos. Dentro de Un giro natural, Berrío, Minaya, Paulino y Sinnapah cuestionan los estándares occidentales y eurocéntricos de belleza, feminidad y de lo que implica ser mujer al reimaginar lo surreal, con lo que crean viajes imaginarios en torno a metamorfosis del cuerpo y redefinen lo que significa ser humano. Para estas artistas, el imaginario surreal resulta útil por su complejidad; puede llamar la atención hacia los legados en conflicto del imperialismo y el colonialismo, puede desafiar el statu quo y subvertir nuestra experiencia de la realidad. Dentro de esta exposición, el surrealismo es un medio para interrogar las estructuras de poder. Un giro natural va más allá de las fronteras—aquellas que se definen a través de la geografía, la nacionalidad o la lengua— para expandir nuestro entendimiento de lo real y lo imaginado.
María Berrío includes idealized parts of herself in the women she creates. These are the women that she wants to be: in harmony with themselves and nature, strong, vulnerable, compassionate, and courageous. Growing up, Berrío was cut off from nature when the Colombian state, with the aid of the US, waged a war on drugs in the forests of her country. The artist connected to the natural world from her time spent on a relative's farm. In a Time of Drought is part of a larger series for which Berrío visited the American Museum of Natural History in New York City and deliberately appropriated imagery from the dioramas of dead, taxidermied animals in picturesque environments. In an urban environment like Manhattan, Berrío looks for connections to nature and tries to infer and rediscover a pre-industrial, pre-religious, pre-allegorical, pre-Columbian magical aspect of our relationship to nature and its potential.
Aluna references the creator figure of the Kogi people, an indigenous group that resides in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains in northern Colombia and keeps Pre-Columbian culture and traditions alive. The Kogi select their priests, called mamos, from birth and raise them in a cave that is completely secluded from the outside world for the first nine years of their lives. Upon leaving the cave, the mamos experience the full magnificence of “Aluna" and then begin to understand their own roles as protectors of the earth. María Berrio's collage depicts a female version of a mamo who has just left the cave and is completely overwhelmed by the intense beauty and fragility of the world around her. According to Berrío, Aluna reflects humanity's relationship to the environment and our dissociation from it due to technology.
Kelly Sinnapah Mary's series of works reference the poem by Martinican writer Aimé Césaire of the same title, published in 1947. Césaire's “Notebook" explores themes of self and cultural identity, diaspora and colonialism, and is the first expression of “negritude," a concept of Black consciousness that became a central tenet of Black culture in both North and South America. Growing up, Sinnapah Mary believed she was of Afro-descent. Only in adulthood did she learn that her ancestors moved from India to Guadeloupe in the 19th century following an agreement by the French government that sought to replenish the French colony with laborers after slavery had been abolished. Sinnapah Mary collects scraps of memories (whether her own or borrowed from her research) and assembles them by juxtaposition. The triptych depicts the artist herself dressed as a bride, surrounded by spiky vegetation, her skin covered with images drawn from Hindu mythology, European fairy tales, and local folklore.
Installation view
Photo: Dabin Ahn
In Containers, performers—all Dominican women, including Joiri Minaya herself—wear floral-patterned, skin-tight bodysuits covering their bodies and faces, except for their eyes, which stare directly at the viewer. Minaya sewed the garments in a way that purposefully restricted and guided the model's poses, which were based on the images found when searching the term “dominican women" on the web. Containers reminds us of the ways in which patterns allow the viewer to subconsciously sort, stereotype, and categorize. But these subconscious decisions are made visible only through contrast or disruption. Here the performers remain anonymous in the photographs, but take breaks in the video and are allowed to get comfortable outside of their bodysuits. In this way, Minaya exploits the rift between a woman's individual reality and her socially-perceived self—the women in her work exceed and refuse stereotypical patterns.
Installation view
Rosana Paulino's practice explores the history of racial violence and the persisting legacy of slavery in Brazil. This series of drawings in particular presents the attributes of Black women that Western standards have failed to represent. The works explore non-Catholic myths in order to activate a memory of silence, marginalization, and domination in the history of women. Búfala (Female Buffalos), for instance, references the Orisha Ọya or Iansã, known in Candomblé (an African diasporic religion that developed in Brazil during the 19th century) as the mother of dusk, the deity who controls the storms and winds. She is known to be one of the most powerful deities in Africa—a young, independent, animal-woman warrior, who is unbeatable and has ownership over her own sexuality. Paulino carries forward the legacy of thousands of Black women who have day-by-day and anonymously built the history of Brazil. Her practice is a powerful reminder that every subject must have ownership over their own narrative.
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A Natural Turn is curated by Ionit Behar, PhD Associate Curator and organized by DePaul Art Museum. Installation photography by Dabin Ahn.
