Tuesday, February 23, 2010

We ask you to respond

We are collecting phrases, words, responses related to our theme "Lo que Aparece y Desaparece" (What Appears and Disappears) for our exhibit at Taller Puertorriqueno in April.

We ask you to respond to these questions at las_gallas@hotmail.com

How are experiences, people, places imprinted on YOU?

How do YOU manipulate and recombine the artifacts of memory?

What does a memory become when it begins to fade?

How do YOU decipher marks with unknown origins?

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Scar and Imprint



Lo Que Aparece 
              foto by J.Lopez

Getting ready for Las Gallas exhibit "Lo Que Aparece y Desaparece" opening 
Friday, April 9, 2010
for the Philagrafika International Quadrennial of Printmaking in Philadelphia.

I have spent a lot of time with images of Mami, Papi, and an abuelo I never met. Spending hours and hours with these images and reimagine-ing a story; stories that she told me, that he withheld and a story that I never got to hear. All have left an imprint; one that you can see on my skin and another that is buried within. This play is one that is almost done. I wrote "Graciela" to pay tribute to Mami's struggle as a single mother, as an immigrant, and as a woman who survived domestic abuse. She defended herself from all these trials by creating a world that left a bundle of scars in her abdomen, scars that lined her uterus and electrified her brain cells. Text from "Graciela" will be incorporated in the prints that are being produced for the exhibit. Mami is forever. It is my intention to acknowledge the value of the imprint and the impact it has had on my way of seeing the world and being in the world. This circle ends. The next celebrates the wonder of this struggle I call Life.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Las Gallas Community Art Workshop

On January 23rd, Las Gallas led a workshop at Taller Puertorriqueño to explore the themes related to marks that appear and disappear in our lives. The images are works created by the participants. And some will be shown in our exhibit in April at the Taller Puertorriqueño as part of Philagrafika.