TUESDAY IN THE TROPICS 152
7th May 2019
Dear friends and colleagues
Having said I would try and reply in some way to what I felt the unreasonable element, even if unintentional, in the diatribe of Tania Bruguera in Hyperallergic, I found it strangely difficult to write it in a way that would not be seen as blasphemous given the perception of Bruguera as a martyr. And her treatment by the Cuban government gives her that status. I was not one of the, for example, one hundred Cuban artists exhibiting in a Biennale she had declared effectively off bounds. I was hoping one of those or one of foreign artists would respond – I do not want to speak for others. I can only say that I am totally opposed to the level of censorship the Cuban government has been proposing, but my interest is in effectivity. Would it not have been more useful in the long run for her to have discussed why her attempt to launch a protest by foreign artists was such a total failure rather than making fine rhetorical pronouncements. What may have worked or had some positive effect instead of the grand gesture of the foreigners all wearing her T-Shirts? Possibly a petition, politely but clearly stated. I think artists would have all signed that without feeling their own moment as an exhibiting artist had been railroaded by another artist’s project. It may not have been spectacular, but it may have happened.
Alas, if this was as she claimed the Cuban Ministry of Culture’s “transformation of the Havana Bienal into an act of whitewashing,” one would expect them to help the Bienal. It seemed more as if the curatorial team had to struggle manfully against the government as much as financial problems and the US embargo. The government could for a start have sorted out the customs. The main meeting place for artists seemed to be the customs office where they had to wait to try and get their works un-impounded. Having arrived in Havana seven days early to install Geraldine Javier’s work I was only able to get it out of customs the day before the opening and then had to install a complex installation with twenty-two separate hanging elements in a breakneck three hours before the installers, who were both very professional and helpful, had to rush on to install other things. Even two or three days after the opening as I wrote last time some artists had not been able to collect their works.
I have reviewed the Bienal for Burlington Contemporary so I will not repeat what I said there save to say there were some great works on show by, amongst others, Oscar Leone from Colombia, Kcho from Cuba, Carlos Martiel from Cuba, living in New York, Mia Salsjö form Australia and some curious ones by the Mexican Gabriel Orozco. Go to the Burlington Contemporary http://contemporary.burlington.org.uk if you want to read about them. (Added postscript – don’t bother, they aren’t publishing it as it was too “personal” – I will re-edit it so there are no duplications with what I have said already and send it you next week)
But I had promised to say more about Geraldine Javier’s piece. She was the only artist from South-east Asia to exhibit and as she was unable to go I went in her place. Yes, it felt a bit weird as a white boy from Dorset to represent the whole of South-east Asia! The curators want to know more about art from that region: they had no travel budget to get there. I gave a lecture about art from my region which quite a few people turned up for. (And, yes, I did also talk about censorship.)
Casa d’Asie, Havana
Her installation was exhibited in the top floor of a beautiful building in Old Havana now used as a museum of Asian art. A balcony ran alongside the room so one could walk around the work which was a pleasure. Each of the twenty-two banners had, as well as two images of a woman, wooden chimes underneath which when the work moved made a gentle clinking sound. One could rarely hear this though as the band outside played most of the day, providing an extra and louder soundtrack.
Cas d’Asie (plus band)
In her statement for the exhibition Geraldine wrote that she lived, “in the Philippines, a country where the majority of the population can only live on a day to day basis. Women especially are often faced with a difficult decision, faced with dire poverty or having to leave the family to find work abroad and provide for that family, yet knowing that the separation will damage and perhaps break the family up. Those who opt to stay but can’t find permanent work have to be resourceful, finding bits of work here and there to tide them over.
‘This work celebrates all those anonymous women who provide for and keep their families – and the country as a whole – together. The profiles of some of the women from the community I live in, Ibabao, Batangas Province, are formed, filled and surrounded by embroideries of plants: we live in the country, on the edge of a forest, beneath a mountain.’
Alongside the banners was printed a list of all twenty-two women whose profiles were painted on each of the two panels of pineapple fibre the banner consisted of, and what they did to keep their families in daily bread – or rather rice:
1.Cherie-Lynn de la Roca
37 years old, married with 3 children
Cooks, sells native delicacies, laundry woman
2. Maricar Remo
34 years old. Married with 3 children
Day care of children, tutor, occasional dealer in beauty products
3. Jenni Caranddang
45 years old, married with 3 children
Teacher, tutor
4. Lilia Ortega Jaime
67 years old, widow with 6 children
Owns a small store, local healer, caretaker of children
And so on. The names of all the embroiderers were also listed.
It was a social project, an up-to-date, third world version of Baudelaire’s heroism of the everyday. It was also very beautiful. Indicatively, all the female guards in the museum all liked it very much – I think the message of the work also appealed to them. Indeed, this was clearly a work by women about women especially appreciated by women.
When there was some wind coming through the open windows the banners, each suspended on a single nylon wire spun, slowly and elegantly around, the colours of the translucent banners combining and shifting in a lyrical way.
What we hadn’t allowed for was the heavy gust in the late afternoon which set the spinning women dancing rather frenetically. Also, we had not allowed for the nylon wire stretching. The next time it is installed it should be moved by the more predictable breezes of electric fans.
It was a serious work and an exceptionally accessible one. It would be good if someone in Europe would show it.
Many apologies for the delay in sending this missive. I have been busy finishing a book and preparing a catalogue for a large exhibition of twenty-three Filipino artists in Danubiana Musuem in Slovakia. The opening is on 7th July if you are near Slovakia or Vienna then – it’s an easy drive from Vienna.
As ever, best wishes
Tony
