DENOUNCE

(denuncia) Curated by Erika Hirugami, MA. MAAB. 

Denounce presents a series of artworks by artists in Guadalajara-Mexico. Each artist acknowledges within her/his practice the “conflicts and vulnerabilities of the human condition,” as stated by artist Emanuel Tovar whose Sonata para animal herido serves as the heart of the exhibition.

Confronting yet bestowing a substantial amount of agency onto the power of fragility, Tovar himself employs the use of a chaotic precarious process that generates a tension between the work, the concept, and the viewer. By using forgotten materials and elements, recycled, and recuperated from a social context in which consumerism is prevalent and social classes are increasingly more pronounced; Tovar challenges the ever-present vulnerability of contemporary economic systems, as well as the role society plays to strengthen the same.

Whereas, Luis Alfonso Villalobos exposes the fragility and permanence of culture. By signaling the devastation of ecosystems and intertwining this conversation with a demand for discourse around endangered species such as the Papagayo: a type of parrot which was trafficked in Latin America hundreds of years ago. Villalobos’ work inevitably signals the consumption of luxury goods, thus questioning what we truly value as a society.

Meanwhile, Cristian Franco takes an introspective approach to the fragility of self and turns his exploration into a healing community exercise. His body of work exhibited as part of Denounce recycles the psychological charge of diversity by taking ephemera from pain and channeling it into his aesthetic praxis. Aureliano Alejos, a local photographer takes a different approach in denouncing the lack of value of the quotidian, by highlighting everyday instances he seeks to rescue the value of the beauty in the commonplace.

 Hiram Constantino challenges the subjugated mediums of drawing and language creating, transcending the limitations of the methodology and bestowing upon his work an alternative agency from what it has historically occupied. Karian Amaya, challenges language, time, and landscape. Alejandra Ruiz signal that which disappears in nature. Cecilia Moreno calls into question intergenerational knowledge, coming from a family of weavers, thus juxtaposing her inherent familiarity with a medium and interdisciplinary process. Florencia Guillen sees her role as an artist as an active participant in the subjectivity of writing history problematizing the official history of our times, and the role of a historian within modern culture. Lastly, Hector Anaya calls into question the primitive nature of creating, by working without intentionality in a purely intuitive form.

The elusive border between art and life is highlighted by the artists within this exhibition. By bravely denouncing the realities of contemporary society, their politically driven artwork forces emancipatory action and serves as the introduction to a discourse about the power of fragility. Allowing for internal human grief to be placed at the forefront, in a safe space, protected by heroic aesthetic praxis.

Curated by Erika Hirugami, MA. MAAB.