So for the last while I’ve been working on this and that for the amazing artist Swoon. This Friday is an opening for a massive piece called A Portrait of Sylvia Elena. Sylvia Elena was a young woman who was killed in Juarez, Mexico. In this piece Swoon collaborates with Tennessee Jane Watson to tell her story and remember her. It’s amazing and the largest Swoon piece I have ever seen. I got to work on it a bit and it was quite an honor.
When I was in college I interned at VDAY for Eve Ensler. We went to Juarez to lead a massive protest against the feminicides in Juarez and bring international attention to the issue. While I was there I met some of the mothers who had lost their daughters. I guess that’s part of why helping with this piece was so amazing. Here’s some info on the situation in Juarez
Here are the details for the opening, please come!
Portrait of Sylvia Elena, a collaborative installation by Swoon & Tennessee Jane Watson at Honey Space, 148 11th Ave, betw 21st & 22nd, 6-8
More info form nonsensenyc.com :
Honey Space presents:
Portrait of Sylvia Elena
Honey Space is honored to present Portrait of Silvia Elena, a collaborative installation by Swoon and Tennessee Jane Watson. The exhibition — a memorial to Silvia Elena, a 17-year old girl who was murdered in Juarez, Mexico, in 1995 — combines text, sound, excavation, shrine elements, and one of Swoon’s most intricate paper cut-out/block prints to date. A different version of the installation is currently on view at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.
Portrait of Silvia Elena is a somber, emotional work that, beyond functioning as a powerful memorial, provides a window into the tragic and ongoing issue of femicide. Defined as a pattern of murder targeting women, to which authorities have often systematically turned a blind eye, femicide has haunted communities throughout the Americas. In Juarez, located just across the border from El Paso, the issue became pronounced in the 1990s when, following the passage of NAFTA, maquiladoras sprang up there as they did elsewhere along the Mexican-American border, to take advantage of cheap Mexican labor. Young women who worked long hours in the factories often disappeared as they walked home at night along dark and dangerous roads. To date, over 500 women and girls have been confirmed killed in Juarez, with at least as many more reported disappeared. Human rights organizations put the number of murders much higher- estimating they could surpass 4,000. Most of the victims are young, po
or, and have been sexually assaulted prior to their deaths.
Swoon and Tennessee Jane Watson traveled together to Juarez in 2008 to learn about this issue first-hand. There they met Ramona Morales Huerta, whose daughter was one of those killed. They went with Ramona to visit her daughter Silvia’s grave. They recorded interviews with Ramona, captured the sounds of the desert winds and streets of Juarez, and pored over pictures of Ramona’s lost daughter. From this experience, came this exhibition.
For their installation in Honey Space, Swoon and Tennessee have made use of a long-sealed sub-basement that has been revealed by a hole in the gallery floor. Entering the gallery, visitors encounter a near-empty ground floor space, with a shrine located near the back wall, dedicated to Silvia’s memory. From the hole in the floor, sounds of Ramona speaking about her daughter, clearing dirt from Silvia’s grave, and the desert winds emerge. Viewers are able to enter the hole, and descend rubble to this catacomb-like space, where Swoon’s piece- extending over the back wall, ceiling and floor- is pasted, and candle-lit.
Honey Space
148 11th Avenue, between 21st and 22nd streets, Manhattan
6-8p; $free
honey-space.com
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