Truth, Old Past : Miami

Truth, Old Past is a group exhibition that focuses on artists from diverse cultural backgrounds whose works project towards a utopian future of cultural transformation as a result of past experiences, which are often preserved and shared in the form of archives or oral traditions. By directly referencing factual events, experiences, and knowledge that occurred in the distant and recent past, we come to understand and acknowledge historical events, cultural traditions, and societal norms that have shaped our present reality. Exploring the truth of the old past, we can learn from past mistakes, deepen an understanding of our roots, and appreciate the progress that has been made over time.

Sena Başöz’s (Turkish, b.1980) work incorporates different media—for example, archival postcards, personal photographs of sunrises and sunsets, bird feathers, human hair, and dry seaweed on paper—which the artist shreds to reconstruct images that evoke the ritualistic approach to healing. The artist leaves these messages on how to coexist harmoniously to an as-yet unrealized future.

Miguel Braceli’s (Venezuelan, b. 1983) work references past conflicts between opposing political views—left and right—that often result in a ruling system of oppression and hopelessness. Braceli’s symbolic and metaphorical references, such as a flag with two poles, create frustration and tension among a group of people trying to raise the flag in a ceremony with no success.

Yane Calovski’s (Macedonian, b.1973) work reinterprets modernist tendencies of constructing narratives and their effects on how society constructs identity. Utilizing archives and memory, Calowski references architecture to examine the impact of post-Soviet trauma in Eastern Europe. Through writing, drawing, video, and installations, the artist processes information to create a complex scenario that questions how history is practiced, presented, and consumed.

Cheen (Guatemalan b.1983) & Manuel Chavajay (Guatemalan b.1982) are indigenous artists from the Maya Tz’utujil community in Guatemala who often collaborate to realize works that speak to their experiences as members of a cultural group that has shaped and contributed to today’s Guatemalan identity. Their work speaks to and reinforces their heritage and the hundreds of families, including theirs, who suffered during the violent armed conflict that affected the country in recent years. Embracing Mayan cosmology and nature, Cheen and Chavajay use the creative process as a way of healing.

Liz Cohen’s (American, b.1973) Las Comadres | Matriarchas is a series of ceramics honoring women’s labor in the coffee fields of Colombia and its importance in the current global commodity trade. Cohen’s appropriation and references of pre-Hispanic pottery and the country's rich past defy notions of a nation of violence and poverty precipitated by U.S. president Ronald Reagan and Cold War propaganda.

Michail Michailov’s (Bulgarian, b. 1978) video performance titled Refuging forces the spectator to confront the artist, as Michailov struggles with the rough weather of the high Alpine terrain of Austria and his own locomotion, carrying heavy ski equipment to delineate a circle in the snow. By embodying the artist's experience, of trying to adapt to the cultural characteristics of his country of choice, he refers to the ongoing refugee crisis affecting the current global dynamics, a result of past political conflicts.

Judith Raum’s (German, b.1977) multidisciplinary practice and her use of textiles that reference the 1920s Bauhaus School in Germany are key aspects of her work. They unravel the politics and history of the time and how it affected the economic and social structure of post-colonial critique within Europe. Baum’s research-based approach and use of archives is a testament to the artist’s interest in unveiling dark moments of recent times.

Jonathan Sanchez Noa (Cuban,1994) is a multidisciplinary artist working with drawing, installation, and sculpture. He creates artworks that examine how histories of colonial extractivism have impacted notions of race, identity, and climate. He utilizes Cuban tobacco as a medium to reconstruct narratives of displacement in relation to cultural and religious significance.

Kevin Umaña’s (Salvadorian, b.1989) beautifully rendered geometric paintings and ceramics draw references to the culture of the Pipil people, an indigenous group that struggles to preserve its own identity after the 1930’s aftermath and genocide committed by the dictatorship in El Salvador at the time. Umaña’s childhood memories and family ancestry—native to the Western and Central areas of present-day El Salvador—present a complex puzzle and scenario, where the aim is to reconstruct a complex landscape of the artist's history and identity.

Heba Y. Amin’s (Egyptian b.1980) art projects are layered with political themes, archival history, and the personal. Amin confronts and reexamines 20th century fascist interventionist policies in the Middle East and North Africa, often focusing on her native Egypt. Her artistic practice incorporates the use of diverse mediums such as photography, film, installations, and archival materials to craft lecture performances. The artist inverts the dynamics between the colonizer and the colonized, using architecture as a metaphor for a utopian future within the region.
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by Omar López-Chahoud