Pilgrimage of Wanderers
Claudia Bernal, José Mansilla-Miranda, Osvaldo Ramirez Castillo, José Luis Torres, Elisa Monreal, Gilda Monreal, Guillermina Buzio
A Space Main Gallery
September 5 – October 10, 2008
Curated by: Tamara Toledo
Copresented by: Salvador Allende Arts Festival for Peace
A Space Main Gallery:
Pilgrimage of Wanderers
Claudia Bernal, José Mansilla-Miranda, Osvaldo Ramirez Castillo, José Luis Torres
Pilgrimage of Wanderers attempts to tackle a peripheral terrain of unexpected arrivals and departures by not only presenting a graphic spectacle of trauma, but by leaving an imprint of the ordeal of violence. Attached to memory and inspired by a distant place, the artists share a humble yet fervid voice determined to pursue redemption. Through performance, video, installation, sculpture and drawing the artist’s address and embody issues of mobility, displacement, nomadism, and exile. In essence, Pilgrimage of Wanderers explores core political and religious dogmas destined to navigate new contexts and realities, on a voyeuristic quest in response trauma.
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A Space Vitrines:
Suspiros Archivados/Archived Sighs
Guillermina Buzio
The multi-layered altarpiece installation, spaced throughout four encased vitrines, shows us the artist’s travels and adaptation through life journeys, refracted through an offering of homage to individuals who have shared the space she once inhabited. The artist offers a testimony, a reconstruction of a mausoleum, time for retrieval, a voice given to the unheard, and a space for commemoration.
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A Space Inner Space:
Decaying Empire
Elisa Monreal and Gilda Monreal
Performance Sept 5, 2009
Montreal-based artists’ Decaying Empire shares a mysterious tale based on socio-political hierarchies. The iconic image of an isolated and arrogant queen is adorned by extravagant clothes, decorated with layers of make-up; we witness the cracking of skin, deterioration of image and the queen’s endless effort to hide the disintegration and decomposition of an old regime. Surrounded by kitsch objects with a backdrop of graffiti, she presides over a parking-lot stage doomed to displacement and disappearance.
Biographies
Claudia Bernal is a Montreal-based performance video installation artist. She earned an MA in Modern and Contemporary Art at Casa LAMM-Universidad Autonoma de Querétaro, Mexico and a BFA at the Université du Québec a Montréal-UQAM. Bernal has exhibited her work in Canada, Colombia, Mexico and Cuba.
José Mansilla-Miranda is an established Ottawa-based artist who has exhibited his work extensively in North and South America as well as Europe. Upcoming exhibits include 636 at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Santiago, Chile.
Osvaldo Ramirez Castillo received his MFA from Concordia University and is a graduate of the Ontario College of Art & Design. Most recently, he participated in Beyond/In Western New York 2007 Biennial, Buffalo and the International Print Center New York.
José Luis Torres completed a BFA in Argentina at the Roberto Viola School of Fine Arts. He presently teaches sculpture at the Maison des métiers d’art du Québec.
Elisa Monreal completed a BFA at Concordia University. She presently facilitates numerous visual art workshops to youth of low-income communities and prisoners in Canada, Brazil and Mexico.
Gilda Monreal received her BFA in Theatre Performance at Concordia University. She presently works as Theatre Program Coordinator & Youth Interventionist at the Maison des Jeunes de CDN, Montreal.
Guillermina Buzio is a film and video artist originally from Colombia. Currently based in Toronto, she has exhibited her work in Buenos Aires, San Francisco and Montreal. She holds a BFA from the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes Prilidian Pueyredon (Argentina) and a Bachelor of Media Arts from the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in Vancouver.
Tamara Toledo is a practicing visual artist, community arts-based educator and curator. Toledo completed an MFA at York University and is a graduate of the Ontario College of Art & Design. She is co-founder and Visual Arts Director of the Salvador Allende Arts Festival for Peace. Recent recipient of the Canada Council for the Arts Assistance to Culturally Diverse Curators Grant for Residencies in the Visual Arts, Toledo has curated several group exhibitions and has participated in numerous curatorial and visual art conferences. During her residency, Toledo organized the Latin American Speakers Series, culminating with Gerardo Mosquera’s first visit to Canada for a series of tutorials and lectures at various educational institutions.