Masks have become ubiquitous in the last 18 months. In a pinch, they can be constructed out of inexpensive, repurposed materials, while their use (or lack thereof) can provide commentary on how the wearer feels about politics, responsibility, and design––a lot like art.

Host Charlotte Jusinski introduces listeners to #mask: Creative Responses to the Global Pandemic at the Museum of International Folk Art (MOIFA). She’s joined by this episode’s co-host Felicia Katz-Harris, senior curator at MOIFA, and Santa Fe native Santero artist Arthur López, whose works were the inspiration for this exhibition. 

Although masks take center stage in the exhibition’s title, Arthur’s beautifully carved La Sagrada Papel prompted the MOIFA to explore ideas around personal safety during the pandemic. The wooden sculpture features a roll of toilet paper surrounded by golden rays akin to religious works depicting the saints. 

It’s fitting as Arthur describes himself as a contemporary Santero artist, a modern-day saint maker who honors traditional methods of carving and coloring his retablos (two-dimensional panels) and bultos (three-dimensional works). La Sagrada lends a humorous touch to an object that obtained almost sacred status during the lockdown of March 2020. 

Arthur’s tongue-in-cheek approach extends to 2020 Altar Vision, his second piece for #mask. In it, a kitchen sink is transformed into an au courant altar, complete with hand sanitizer, soap, and a bottle of Corona––offerings to the patron saints of healthcare and wine.

“A lot of people that are doing what are called traditional art, I look at as textbook, and I've never wanted to be a textbook artist,” he says. No worries there. Additional visual details in 2020 Altar Vision perfectly capture the danger still lurking outside our kitchen windows while speaking to the solace many of us have found in “FaithTime,” the artist’s nod to connecting via FaceTime.

Like Arthur, the other artists featured in #mask draw on their traditions and cultural heritage for inspiration, creating works that address protection in the time of COVID-19. They question the social implications of a crisis that has disproportionately affected marginalized communities around the globe and celebrate what it means to care for each other.

***

#mask: Creative Responses to the Global Pandemic is on view at the Museum of International Folk Art through January 15, 2023. Plan your visit at internationalfolkart.org. To learn more about Arthur López and his work, visit artlopezart.com

Visit http://newmexicoculture.org for info about our museums, historic sites, virtual tours and more.

***

Encounter Culture, a production of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, is produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios.

Hosted by Charlotte Jusinski

Technical Director: Edwin R. Ruiz at Mondo Machine

Recording Engineer: Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe

Executive Producer:  Daniel Zillmann

Theme Music: D’Santi Nava

For more, visit NewMexicoCulture.org.

Breath. Prior to 2020, most people didn't give the complex, involuntary act of breathing much thought.

Times have changed. So, too, has the lens through which both audiences and artists view Breath Taking, a new exhibit at the New Mexico Museum of Art. Encounter Culture host Charlotte Jusinski, the editor of El Palacio magazine, welcomes Kate Ware, her co-host for this inaugural episode and curator of photography at the New Mexico Museum of Art, and artist Cynthia Greig to the conversation. 

Cynthia, Kate, and Charlotte discuss Cynthia’s video and photographic experiments, works that explore the shimmering intimacy and fragility of breathing in a world grappling with a respiratory virus. Afterward, Kate shares a behind-the-scenes look at what happens when a curator finalizes an entire exhibition only to pivot that original concept in the wake of a pandemic and the social justice impact resonating from the phrase “I can’t breathe.”

Breath Taking is an inadvertently timely exhibit featuring contemporary artists and the inventive ways they’ve discovered to express the fundamental and elusive act of breathing. In many ways, every breath now carries with it an ominous undertone. Breath is front-page news, leading stories from politics to protests. Through it all, breathing remains “this human act that unifies us,” says Kate. We all do it––and none of us know when we’ll breathe our last. 

“I know everything's sort of transformed the interpretation and significance of breath to a different level since the virus is transmitted through the exhalations that we have and share,” says Cynthia. The 54 photos that make up her contribution to the exhibition reveal the individuality of this life-giving force. Each image, captured on a flatbed scanner, is an imprint of the person releasing it, as unique as a snowflake. This breathscape envelopes visitors in an ethereal cosmos, forcing them to consider breath differently than they might have two years ago.

While the original plan for Breath Taking was conceived before the concept of breath exploded in the zeitgeist, Kate moved swiftly to capture the immediacy of this moment. The result is a cohesive and well-done exhibit, offering audiences a space to contemplate and to process all that’s happened in the last 16 months.

***

Breath Taking is on view at the New Mexico Museum of Art through September 5th, 2021. Plan your visit or take a virtual tour at nmartmuseum.org.

To learn more about Cynthia Greig and her work, visit CynthiaGreig.com.

Visit http://newmexicoculture.org for info about our museums, historic sites, virtual tours and more.

***

Encounter Culture, a production of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, is produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios.

Hosted by Charlotte Jusinski

Technical Director: Edwin R. Ruiz at Mondo Machine

Recording Engineer: Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe

Executive Producer:  Daniel Zillmann

Theme Music: D’Santi Nava

For more, visit NewMexicoCulture.org.

For centuries, the culture of New Mexico has offered residents and visitors a lush, complex texture of styles, designs and lifestyles. In recent history, that has included surviving a global pandemic.

So who are we now?  What aspects of self do we take with us as we move forward, and what do we leave behind?

Take a look inside the museums and historic sites of New Mexico—this time, without leaving home. This season, we're touring the museums of Santa Fe as host Charlotte Jusinski, our curators, artists, and exhibitors grapple with the question of identity.

***

Encounter Culture, a production of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, is produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios.

Hosted by Charlotte Jusinski

Technical Director: Edwin R. Ruiz at Mondo Machine

Recording Engineer: Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe

Executive Producer:  Daniel Zillmann

Theme Music: D’Santi Nava

For more, visit NewMexicoCulture.org.