Memories Un-Remembered: Thinking of Home (Longing)
BxArts Factory in partnership with Bronx Music Heritage Center present our 1st project of 2016!
Memories Un-Remembered: Thinking of Home (Longing).
This Arts Exhibition/Community Project was curated by Alexis Mendoza and include artists Francheska Alcantara, Stephanie Mota, Lazarus Nazario and Edwin Torres.
Opening Reception: Saturday, February 6th from 6 to 9 pm
1303 Louis Nine Boulevard, Bronx NY 10459
For more details please visit our FB event page:
Francheska Alcantara’s body of work transforms a vacant space into something unique and beautiful without any outside materials, metaphorically speaking to the way immigrants arrive at a new, unfamiliar place with minimal material possessions, and transform the existing area into a beautifully unique neighborhood laden with culture.
Who am I? Where do I come from? How do I place myself in society? These questions are just the start of Alcantara’s internal dialogue dealing with identity, feminism, psychological states, and cultural background.
The relationships, dreams, hopes, and cultural values that support the series of mixed media sculptures created by Stehanie Mota titled “Mi-Pietā” es nothing less than a personal exploration in which the portrait take a form of a domestic object, a sentimental/conceptual expression of identity. Every material she used in the series (wood kitchen cabinets, stovetop coffee pot, rice, etc) are a further representation of the nuances of her nostalgia associated with her mother. Lazarus Nazario mixed painting with other media such as: printmaking, and found objects to confront social practices concerning her ancestors’ homeland that celebrates cultural differences while underscoring our shared history and humanity. Whether in public spaces or intimate settings, her painting explores the human figure from the intimate osmosis between essences and appearances. Her work shows the fusion of many languages to point out a clear reference of a sense of belonging.
In the same reflection Edwin Torres use as a subject his own family. “I am certain that in conclusive form, this work will have multiple layers of meaning for my family and will serve as a document to the Puerto Rican diaspora. This work is a journey of self-discovery and careful looking, where I will clarify my cultural identity and reconnect family together”. In the on-going series “Close to Home: Mi Familia and the Diaspora” we can feel the overwhelming reflection of two aspects “memory” and “place” negotiating the physical and psychological aspects of acculturation built into immigrants’ daily lives through adaptation and integration. For the past year, Edwin Torres have focused his work on documenting traumatic events and daily life in his immediate family.
