Brooklyn Museum welcomes Cuban artist Mar铆a Magdalena Campos-Pons (b. 1959) to New York this summer for her first solo show in the city. Born in the same year Fidel Castro (1926-2016) rose to power, she grew up during a time of experimentation and artistic freedom 鈥 finding her voice in this post-revolutionary environment. Over a career spanning four decades, she has been a part of major exhibitions around the world, including the Sharjah Biennial, Venice Biennale and Havana Biennial. The exhibition Behold collates a selection of her photography, installation, video, painting and performances. In this sweeping, multi-sensory survey, visitors will explore her engagement with communities across China, Cuba and the USA, navigating interconnected histories, identities and realities. Her work inspects a variety of themes, from motherhood and histories of enslavement to the might of nature and Santer铆a traditions. The presentation features more than forty pieces, bringing together career-defining highlights.
In response to the harshening political climate in Cuba, Campos-Pons moved to the USA in 1991. She was unable to return home for many years. In turn, her art often visualises the difficulties of being in multiple places at once. She expresses the struggle of working and living in one location whilst being emotionally tethered to another, striving for connection across vast distances. A rarely seen photographic installation, Umbilical Cord (1991) presents a line of framed pictures of women from Campos Pons鈥 family. Only their stomachs, marked with white crosses, are visible in the frame. The artist鈥檚 abdomen is different, as painted footprints walk out from her navel. These photos alternate with ones showing outstretched arms as red string links each picture horizontally. Above the anonymous shots is a portrait of her grandmother 鈥淢aria鈥 and below, anchoring the piece, is the word 鈥淎frica.鈥 Created with her mother and sisters when she left Cuba, the installation tethers her family across the span of geographies and generations.
Campos-Pons鈥 family story is intertwined with difficult global histories of forced labour and subsequent advocacy movements for bodily autonomy. Behold traces her work back to the 19th century sugar industry, in which the artist鈥檚 West African Yoruba ancestors were enslaved. Moreover, Campos Pons shines a light on the experiences of her Chinese relatives. The Guangzhou Triennial 2008 provided Campos-Pons with an occasion to delve into this ancestry with My Mother Told Me I Was Chinese, The Painting Lesson (2008) becoming a part of The Guangzhou Museum鈥檚 permanent collection. In an interview with Sarah Lewis Cappellari for Theatre Journal, she explains:
The complexity of identity is key to understanding Campos Pons鈥 oeuvre. The large-scale Polaroid series, When I Am Not Here/Estoy All谩 (1994鈥1997), for example, exposes the falsehood and divisiveness of nationalist identity. Meanwhile, in the multipart collage, De Las Dos Aguas (Of the Two Waters) (2007), Campos Pons uses self-portraiture to evoke powerful Yoruba deities, Yemay谩 and Oshun, as divine protectors of migrants. Series on view for the first time in the USA include Sono Qui (2006), which links the Nigerian immigrant community in Italy today to the long presence of Black people in the country since the 1400s. Carmen Hermo, associate Curator for the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at Brooklyn Museum, states: 鈥淚t鈥檚 a delight to showcase this survey of Campos-Pons鈥檚 art. Her work is conceptually rigorous, avant-garde, wondrous and beautiful. It embraces traditions and ways of being that preceded and survived the violences of colonialism, and it will appeal to viewers seeking decolonial narratives and inspiration from an artist who affirms that empathy and emotion are critical tools.鈥
Cross-cultural connection emerges as a common thread in Campos-Pons鈥 oeuvre. It鈥檚 a timely theme in our hyperconnected world, where social media echo chambers and populism seem to be driving us further apart. Behold counters the camera鈥檚 capacity to focus on certain facets of a subject鈥檚 identity. Instead, Campos-Pons presents people in all their depth and complexity. The exhibition鈥檚 title evokes associations of touch, support, and dignity, as the artist beholds, and upholds, communities around the world.
Brooklyn Museum, Behold聽| 15 September – 14 January
Words: Diana Bestwish Tetteh
Image Credits:
- 聽Mar铆a Magdalena Campos-Pons (born Matanzas, Cuba, 1959).The Calling, 2003. Diptych of Polaroid Polacolor Pro photographs, framed: approx. 24 脳44 in. (61 脳 111.8 cm) overall.Collection ofJonathan and Barbara Lee. 漏 Mar铆a MagdalenaCampos-Pons. (Photo: courtesy of the artist).
- Mar铆a Magdalena Campos-Pons (born Matanzas,Cuba, 1959). Red Composition(detail), from the series Los Caminos (The Path), 1997. Triptych ofPolaroid Polacolor Pro photographs, framed:approx. 37 脳 29 in. (94 脳 73.7 cm) each; approx. 37脳 87 in. (94 脳 221cm) overall.Collection of WendiNorris. 漏 Mar铆a Magdalena Campos-Pons. (Photo:courtesy of the artist).
- Mar铆a Magdalena Campos-Pons (born Matanzas, Cuba, 1959).When I Am Not Here/Estoy All谩, Triptico I, 1996. Triptych of Polaroid Polacolor Pro photographs, 24 脳 20 in. (61 脳 50.8 cm) each.Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, Florida;purchased through the R. H. Norton Trust, 99.92.1鈥3.漏 Mar铆a Magdalena Campos-Pons. (Photo:courtesy of the artist).
- Mar铆a Magdalena Campos-Pons (born Matanzas, Cuba, 1959).Freedom Trap, 2013. Polaroid Polacolor Pro photograph, 24 脳 20 in. (61 脳 50.8cm). Courtesy of the artist and Gallery WendiNorris, San Francisco. 漏 Mar铆a MagdalenaCampos-Pons. (Photo: courtesy of Gallery WendiNorris)
- 聽Mar铆a Magdalena Campos-Pons (born Matanzas, Cuba, 1959).The Calling, 2003. Diptych of Polaroid Polacolor Pro photographs, framed: approx. 24 脳44 in. (61 脳 111.8 cm) overall.Collection ofJonathan and Barbara Lee. 漏 Mar铆a MagdalenaCampos-Pons. (Photo: courtesy of the artist).
