By Suzanne Révy
The U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) estimates that there are over 70 million people who have been forcibly displaced around the world. Of those, over 41 million are internally displaced, over 25 million are refugees and over three million are currently seeking asylum. And every one of them has a story to tell. In Crossing Cultures: Family, Memory and Displacement, currently on view at the Cambridge Art Association through October 31st, 2019, Claudia Ruiz Gustafson brings together her work alongside three other artists, Astrid Reischwitz, Vivian Poey and Nilou Moochhala, who relate stories of family, home and immigration through collage, video, installation and photography. An artists’ talk is planned for Saturday October 26th, 2019 from 1 to 2pm.
“Historias Fragmentadas” by Claudia Ruiz Gustafson in the Kathryn Schultz Gallery at the Cambridge Art Association, installation photograph by Suzanne Révy.
“Lazos de Sangre (Blood Ties)” from the series “Historias Fragmantadas” by Claudia Ruiz Gustafson, courtesy of the artist and the Cambridge Art Association.
Gustafson grew up in Lima, Peru, but moved to the U.S. in her twenties. She employs vernacular family snapshots in collages that are layered with textures, fabrics and self-portraits to reveal a longing for childhood and a place left behind. Wall labels offer context revealing her close relationship with a grandfather, but also times of trauma after moving and being bullied at a new school and the predictions of a shamanic aunt who foretold Gustafson’s departure from Peru. These layered compositions offer at times a playful sense of memory and in others a mournful sense of loss and longing.
“Stories from the Kitchen Table” by Astrid Reischwitz in the Kathryn Schultz Gallery at the Cambridge Art Association, courtesy of Gallery Kayafas, installation photograph by Suzanne Révy.
“Prickly Stories” by Astrid Reischwitz from series “Stories from the Kitchen Table” courtesy of the artist and Gallery Kayafas.
Like Gustafson, Astrid Reischwitz employs collage in her “Stories from the Kitchen Table” series. Snapshots, pictures of flora and lacy fabrics from her family’s ancestral heirlooms in a farmhouse in northern Germany are the elements Reischwitz uses to construct new narratives of departures and homecomings. She includes short notes on the metaphoric meanings of small flowers such as pansies or dandelions as symbols for family. Now a resident of the U.S., Reischwitz returns each summer to explore the land, nature and home of her childhood. Her compositions offer a palpable impression of generational and communal recollection.
“My Very Own Suitcase Series” by Nilou Moochhala installation in the Kathryn Schultz Gallery at the Cambridge Art Association, installation photograph by Suzanne Révy
“My Very Own Suitcase Series” (detail) by Nilou Moochhala, installation at the Kathryn Schultz Gallery at the Cammbridge Art Association, installation photograph by Suzanne Révy.
Travel is the cornerstone of migration, and Nilou Moochhala’s installation of suitcases filled with vernacular pictures and ephemera speak to being untethered and in transit. Leaving a home, sometimes forcibly, sometimes voluntarily, is a leap of faith into an unknown future. Holding onto portable memorabilia can bring comfort through a sea of change. And just as we introduce ourselves through swapping business cards, each suitcase offers viewers a small card which describes its contents, allowing us to infer the tales of trauma or tragedy alongside stories of love and family.
“Barquitas de Papel: We are not Butterflies” by Vivan Poey, audio/video installation in the Kathryn Schultz Gallery at the Cambridge Art Association.
“Barquitas de Papel: We are not Butterflies” (detail) by Vivan Poey, audio/video installation in the Kathryn Schultz Gallery at the Cambridge Art Association, photograph by Suzanne Révy.
Given the complex quality of the work in this show, the installation and presentation might have benefited from fewer pieces on the walls or greater variety in the mediums used. Fortunately, Vivian Poey’s interactive audio video installation, “Barquito del Papel: We Are not Butterflies,” provides a welcome visual respite in the gallery. Poey traces her daughter’s heritage to the island nations of Cuba on one side and Haiti on the other side. The ocean represents a chasm and a challenge for extended families who live on either side. Poey brings attention to the danger of crossing this daunting border through playful means by inviting visitors to write a note about where their ancestors came from, who are then instructed to fold the paper into an origami boat. The paper boats cast their shadows on the moving slide show of water interspersed with snapshots. A looming rhythm of the sound of waves emphasizes the stark fragility of small vessels against the tumultuous ocean.
As the national conversation around immigration has become increasingly polarized, it is heartening that artists are engaging the issue through the lens of photography to reveal deeply personal narratives of cultural shifts and movement. In addition to this, there are two other shows this fall in Cambridge including In Transit, which we reviewed earlier (link below) at Lesley University, but has since closed and Crossing Lines Constructing Home: Displacement at Belonging in Contemporary Art currently on view at the Harvard Art Museums through January 5th 2020, a multi-media show which features a broad cross section of photography including works by Richard Misrach, Andrea Modica, Serena Chopra, Dylan Vitone and Candida Höfer.
(Featured image) “Mu abuelo y yo (My grandfather and I)” from the series “Historias Fragmentadas” by Claudia Ruiz Gustafson, courtesy of the artist and the Cambridge Art Association.
For more information:
https://www.cambridgeart.org/crossing-cultures/
Our review of In Transit
Share On Facebook
Tweet It
