El Jueves, 13 de Octubre, 2011, tuve la oportunidad de viajar a Nashville para participar en un taller educador presentado a través del Centro de Estudios Latinoamericanos de la Universidad de Vanderbilt de y el Centro Frist de Artes Visuales. La invitada de este taller María Magdalena Campos-Pons. Cubana trasladada a Boston, ella es una artista multidimensional que utiliza la escultura, video, dibujo y fotografía para comunicar temas a la vez muy personales y universales.
Upon arriving, I found colleagues from various disciplines seating themselves around the large conference room representing both Art and Language teachers from schools in the area elementary and secondary, public and private. Soon after a brief introduction from Andrea Steele, Educator for the Frist center, and Claire Gonzalez, coordinator of outreach programs for Vanderbilt’s Center for Latin American Studies, María Magdalena Campos-Pons, or Magda, joined the meeting.
Al llegar, me encontré con colegas de diversas disciplinas sentándose alrededor de la gran sala de conferencias. Esos profesores representaron el arte y tambien idiomas de escuelas en el área primarias y secundarias, públicos y privados. Poco después de una breve introducción de Andrea Steele, educadora para el centro Frist, y Claire González, coordinadora de programas para el Centro Vanderbilt para Centro de Estudios Latinoamericanos, María Magdalena Campos-Pons, o Magda, se unió a la reunión.
With a unique passion and delight for sharing ideas, Magda engaged the group right away in a discussion of some of the issues most pertinent to teachers in their struggle to bring art and culture into the modern classroom in the United States. She reflected upon her own experience as a student growing up in Cuba and the tremendous impact that one particular teacher had on her as a young girl. This teacher lighted a flame in her that burns still by integrating masterworks of art and literature into the curriculum and caring for each student as an individual. For many, this struck a chord as the kind of impact every teacher hopes to make on the life of a student.
Con obvia pasión y encanto para el intercambio de ideas, Magda se puso a interactuar con el grupo de inmediato en una discusión de algunos de los temas más pertinentes a los maestros en su lucha por llevar el arte y la cultura al aula moderna en los Estados Unidos. Mientras hablamos, ella reflexionó sobre su propia experiencia como estudiante en Cuba y el tremendo impacto que una maestra en particular había hecho en su vida como niña. Esta maestra encendió una llama que arde aún con la mezcla de obras maestras de la literatura con el arte en el currículo y el tratamiento de cada estudiante como un individuo. Para muchos, este nos soñó con la verdad que ese impacto es lo que cada maestro espera hacer en la vida de un estudiante.
Next, we descended to the museum itself for a Gallery Talk in which Magda presented and discussed three installations that were currently on display in the museum.
The first installation that we had an opportunity to see was a very large collection of photographs called “De las Dos aguas”
luego, descendimos al propio museo para una charla en la que Magda presentó y discutió tres instalaciones que se encuentran actualmente en exhibición en el museo.
La primera instalación que tuvimos la oportunidad de ver fue una instalacion de fotografías "De las Dos Aguas"
Though Magda was careful to remind us that each viewer understands the image in their own way, and the images that she creates are open to interpretation, it was wonderful to have an opportunity to understand the personal and historical antecedents that informed her development of the pieces.
Aunque Magda nos hizo recordar que cada espectador concibe la imagen a su manera, y las instalaciones que crea son abiertas a la interpretación, era maravilloso tener la oportunidad de comprender los antecedentes personales e históricas que le informó en el desarrollo de las piezas .
In the image “De Las Dos Aguas” we find two figures, captured in oversized polaroids of the artist herself. The faces of the figures are obscured so that, as Magda explained, the viewer may “fully construct the story.” The covered eyes also allow each figure to lose itself in introspection; centered within themselves as they close out all distractions.
En la fotografía de "De Las Dos Aguas" nos encontramos con dos figuras, capturado en polaroids gigantescas que son retratos de la propia artista. Las caras de las figuras están ocultas de manera que, como explicó Magda, el espectador puede "completar la construcción de la historia." Los ojos cubiertos también permiten que cada figura se pierda en la introspección, centradas en sí mismos, sin distracciones.
The two are connected by strings of hair which drip and flow like water itself (as the title of the work imples). This flowing hair is the same water that connects the continents of Africa and the Americas, a line which links the two aspects of the self in a state of simultaneous exile and rediscovery, in a state of constant ebb and flow, as with water itself.
Las dos mujeres están conectadas por hilos de cabello que gotean y fluyen como el agua (como el título de la obra implica). Este pelo que fluye es la misma agua que conecta los continentes de África y las Américas--una línea que une los dos aspectos del ser en un estado de exilio y redescubrimiento simultáneo, en un estado de constante flujo y reflujo, como ocurre con el agua.
These figures, in fact, recall the Afro-Cuban and Yoruba goddesses Oshun and Yemayá, two sisters who are in constant communication with one another. These two figures also represent anchors, a connection to earth, to groundedness. This grounding is both physical, in the case of the continents, as well as spiritual and historical, anchoring one another to the tradition of the ancestors which came before, even though their feet are lost in the blue space at the bottom of the image, as if the figures are themselves surrounded by water.
Estas figuras, de hecho, recuerdan las diosas Afro-Cubanas y Yorubas Oshún y Yemayá, dos hermanas que están en constante comunicación entre si. Estas dos figuras también representan anclas, en una conexión a la tierra firme, que se enraízan. Esta tierra es a la vez físico, en el caso de los continentes, y también es espiritual e histórico. Vemos aqui el anclaje a la tradición de los antepasados que vinieron antes. Sin embargo, sus pies se pierden en el espacio azul en la parte inferior de la imagen, como si las figuras estuvieran rodeadas por agua.
Magda reiterated the importance of the audience’s participation in the construction of the story itself: where are the men in the boat going? What is in the bags? These questions have as many answers as it has viewers. The viewer must decide for him or herself what the story might be.
Magda insistió la importancia de la participación del público en la construcción de la historia de sus obras: ¿Adónde van los hombres en el barco? ¿Qué hay en las bolsas? Estas preguntas tienen tantas respuestas como tiene espectadores. El espectador decide por sí mismo como termina la historia.
Next we had an opportunity to view “Sugar/Bittersweet”
La siguiente obra que vimos fue “Sugar/Bittersweet”:
This installation takes the concept of Sugar as bittersweet. Though the taste of the sugar is sweet, it becomes embittered by the history of tremendous suffering that it has produced on the island of Cuba over the course of its history.
Esta instalación desarrolla el concepto de Azúcar como un elemento en la cultura Cubana agridulce. Aunque el sabor del azúcar es dulce, se vuelve amargado por la historia del sufrimiento profundo que se ha producido en la isla de Cuba a lo largo de su historia.
The installation itself is a series of spears piercing orbs of sugar in various colors and manifestations. Providing a base for these are stools from both Africa and China, the places of origin of the ancestors of the artist herself. Here we see rising out of the “base” of history, the sharp “spear” of the sugar cane as it pierces the multicolored cakes of sugar. The stools act as bases for the pillars made of the cultural heritage of the immigrants upon which the empire of sugar was built, while the crystalized sugar represents the unique racial mixture that is the Cuban people today. The translucency of the glasslike sugar itself reminds us of the fragility of the material of memory.
La instalación presenta una serie de lanzas penetrando medallas de azúcar en varios colores y manifestaciones. Las lanzas se fundan en taburetes son de África y China, los lugares de origen de los antepasados de la artista. Aquí vemos surgiendo de la "base" de la historia, la "lanza" fuerte de la caña de azúcar que penetra las medallas de azúcar multicolores. Las taburetes funcionan como bases de los pilares hechos de la herencia cultural de los inmigrantes sobre los que se construyó el imperio de azúcar, mientras que el azúcar cristalizado representa la mezcla única de razas que es el pueblo cubano hoy. La translucidez del azúcar parece y a veces es mezclado con vidrio. Eso nos recuerda la fragilidad de la memoria.
This installation as a totality recalls a grove of sugar cane. As Magda reminded us, the experience of walking through a plantation of sugarcane flowing in the wind is a universal Cuban experience. Each Spear/Blade is different, even as each blade of sugarcane or each individual human being in this world is different, and each spear and stool were, before Magda, formed by the hands of an anonymous artist. Magda explained that the installation itself was originally conceived so that the viewer may walk among the blades so that she might best see the details and individuality of each one.
Esta instalación en su totalidad recuerda un campo lleno con caña de azúcar. Como nos recuerda Magda, la experiencia de caminar por la caña mientras flota con el viento es una experiencia cubana universal. Cada lanza/ hoja es diferente, como cada hoja de la caña de azúcar o de cada ser humano individual en este mundo es diferente, Cada uno de las lanzas y las taburetes eran, antes de la obra de Campos-Pons, formados por las manos de artistas anónimos. Magda explica que la instalación fue originalmente concebido para que el espectador puede caminar entre las hojas para que pudiera ver los detalles y la individualidad de cada pieza.
Next, we visited the installation “Spoken Softly with Mamá”
Perhaps the most personal of the three installations we saw at the Frist Center, “Spoken Softly with Mamá” is a series of sculptures mixed with textiles and videography. Across the back of the room are ranged seven structures in the shape and texture of ironing boards, while on the floor are various irons shaped out of what appears to be glass. On each of the ironing boards a separate story is taking place, of women in the familly of the artist who had an important impact on her life.
In the background a popular Cuban lullaby plays:
Arroz con leche,
se quiere casar
con una viudita de la capital;
que sepa coser,
que sepa bordar,
que ponga la aguija en su campanal . . . .
This children’s lullaby’s lyrics are important as well, reflecting the importance of marriage as a union which functions to strengthen and maintain a family in Cuban society. These functions are specifically material and practical “que sepa coser/que sepa bordar”: the woman to marry must know how to sew and embroider to be considered marriageable.
The image of the woman portraying the artist’s mother certainly met this standard. The ironing boards represent the importance of the work that she performed; washing and ironing clothes both for her family as well as for others. The artist recalled that her mother’s hands were calloused from the work that she did washing and neatly folding clothes each day, while she maintained a careful pride in her own personal presentation, always in a pristine white dress.
Other women in the installation defined themselves in other ways. One relative, Faustina, is portrayed as a traveller. She has the courage to leave her comfort zone in search of new experiences, perhaps returning to the family stories of adventure from beyond the world familiar to the others.
On the floor are arranged a starburst of glass irons. The act of putting these on the floor highlights that these objects have the same value as the objects on the walls, just as labor of differing social classes should be seen to have equal value. These irons being made of glass is no accident, as this glass, as with the sugar from “Sugar/Bittersweet”, is translucent and fragile. The artist further notes that this class can fall and break and be reassembled, just as our memory can be reassembled from its own fragments.
The videos portray a woman carefully folding sheets These sheets are embroidered with silk and organdy in an homage to the extreme value of the work that these women performed in what Magda called “a moment of celebration.” Embroidered on the edge of each is the name of its recipient, whether it be within or outside of the family: “para papá” or “para el alcalde.” The very last pile of folded sheets are embroidered with the words “Para que su hija alcanzara a lo que ella solo soñar” (So that her daughter may reach her very own dreams).
Clearly María Magdalena Campos-Pons has found a voice which can speak in a constant “Flow” with her ancestors. These themes pervade the three works in this fascinating workshop, as they inform the very fabric of each of our own lives. Though her work is intensely personal, María Magdalena Campos-Pons has given voice to the experience of being Cuban-American, Afro-Cuban, Cuban, African…and ultimately, simply human.
My heartfelt gratitude go to Andrea Steele, Claire Gonzalez, and María Magdalena Campos-Pons for taking the time to put this fascinating workshop together. It was an experience that I will always treasure, and it is one that I am confident will enrich my experience as a teacher and as a person.
