Reflections On Visiting Museo Del Barrio.

The visit to Museo Del Barrio, set several internal trajectories into motion. It was by far, the most thought provoking museum I have ever visited.

The artist consciously destroys the glorification of saints, Gods, martyrs and reveals the true horrors of their actions by objectively portraying them based solely on their actions and juxtaposing those visuals with quotes like, “In the Name Of The Mother”, and “I am Christ”, which resonate with the intent and thought process behind these actions, and are explosive and provocative enough, or bear strong cultural baggage to elicit an instant reaction from the viewer.

The entire process and finished piece tied down strongly with concepts, idea and execution is extremely powerful. It forces you to think. I had never considered these issues so introspectively before the visit to this small, and intimate museum provoked me to.  I had never been introduced to the massive drug problem and issues that this community struggles with, and therefore arrived at the museum with a fairly innocent eye. She uses textures and found objects that go along wit the theme to make it a stronger visual.

She also uses different male and female features in some of her pieces, and body parts to create, these mesmerizing forms and beings. I remember hearing someone in class saying, that it almost looks like the artist chose to portray the African American community in her work.

What does this imply?

Isn’t portraying a person of any race, or skin colour a personal choice? If you portray a Caucasian male, aren’t you making a decision to do so? Then why is this choice so actively recognized and acknowledge and discussed when an artist depicts members of a non-Caucasian community? What does this say about   the mentality and social structure and conditions in our society?

It is because, people belonging to non Caucasian societies, communities and cultures are not commonly discussed or portrayed in works of art, especially art that has been created, ideated and circulated in our Western society that runs on the foundations of privilege. People who are not white are not common subjects of artwork and are not used to seeing artwork that they can relate to in a relatable contemporary context.

There is one piece I particularly loved,in the museum.

This piece was one of the works exhibiting the technique of Acrollage. The photographic visuals collaged into it were facial features belonging to male and female bodies put together to create this striking mesmerizing and outstanding composition of a face looking straight into your eyes, almost instantly triggering a mental reflection and an internal trajectory. the eyes in the collage belong to a white female, the cheekbones trace their roots to the face of a black male, and neither wold have looked so beautiful had it not been juxtaposed with the other. This can almost be translated to the mental philosophical narrative about life and society, that although every individual in the society maybe different and unique from everyone else,  but when the state of affairs of the society is to be considered, every person counts, and we all bring out something in each other, depending on how we treat each other. If we treat other with the respect every individual deserves, we have the potential to brig out the best in every person and social progress with acquire a pace like never before. Too bad, we are selfish, petty creatures run by our egos.

The piece could also be interpreted as a comment on the issues of the transgender society. And how a visual  or form, of a being, composed of both male and female parts, appreciated for its spectacular beauty in museums, is treated with contempt, and prejudice on the streets, and in neighbourhoods.

The use of media pushes boundaries for thought, not just the process of thinking that occurs in the minds of the artist creating the piece, but also in the minds of the viewer perceiving the work of art. The very act of using different medium lends the piece a sense of depth, conceptual layering, and “serious play”, a term I was introduced to in a Ted Talk by Paula Scher, that I watched a while ago, where he speaker talks about how experimenting and playing with materials, media and form, that you are not completely used to, leads to serious life changing work, while continual churning out of pieces in a particular style, leads to solemn boring work, that doesn’t make anyone think and wonder. It doesn’t trigger the emotion of jaw dropping awe.

You could almost see that the artist enjoyed her work and process, which in turn made the experience fun and enjoyable for us.

The use of different media also pushes imagination, and forces us to open our minds to new subjects and new creative and innovative ways of expressing and experiencing these ideas and concepts.

I also really enjoyed the atmosphere of the museum, so intimate and completely different from that in the MoMa. I noticed how the atmosphere of the museum was not just dictated by the size f the museum and the number of people there, but also by the size of artwork an pieces put up. Massive pieces of art like in the Museum of Modern art are viewed by a number of people together, and standing up close to a piece makes you feel surrounded by it. At the same time, the small pieces hung up on the walls in Museo Del Barrio creates  a more personal connection wit each piece since only one person can stand right in front of it at a time, in order to actually inspect and enjoy it.

That piece in particular raised a very personal question in me.

If a person could simply collage a body onto themselves, which parts would they pick and which would they discard? would they discard any parts of themselves at all? Knowing that the parts have served and been a part of their experiences all their life. What parts would we let go off? Which ones would we reject? If we were allowed to build ourselves piece by piece, would we really choose to be different? would we choose to change at all? I am a nineteen year old girl and therefore very aware of my physical “flaws”, but now that I really consider this,I realize that I would not choose to change myself at all.