Tag: cecilia vicuna

Cecilia Vicuna at the Guggenheim Museum

Killed for objecting to mining and dam projects, Indigenous women activists Berta Caceres (top) and Maria Taant (right) are honored in Cecilia Vicuna’s ‘Liderezas (Indigenous Women Leaders)’ painting, now on view in Vicunas’ retrospective at the Guggenheim.  Made in 2022 for this exhibition, the painting also pictures Nemonte Nenquimo at center, who has successfully led her community in resisting the destructive advances of oil companies in the Ecuadorian Amazon, Chilean activist Elisa Loncon and Peruvian activist Maxima Acuna. Together, the museum explains, their arrangement forms the Southern Cross constellation, metaphorically guiding humans to exist harmoniously with each other and nature.  (On view through Sept 5th).

Cecilia Vicuna, Liderezas (Indigenous Women Leaders), oil on canvas, 2022.

Andrea Bowers in ‘Ecofeminism(s)’ at Thomas Erben Gallery

‘Ecofeminism(s)’ at Thomas Erben Gallery, curated by Monika Fabijanska, is not only one of the first but one of the best shows recently opened to the public.  Featuring iconic projects like Helene Aylon’s ‘Earth Ambulance,’ for which she transformed a truck into an ambulance for earth picked up at military bases, mines and nuclear reactors, and Cecilia Vicuna’s delicate assemblages of natural objects that convey fragility and connectedness, the exhibition presents important projects from the 70s and 80s alongside more recent work.  Here, Andrea Bowers extends the continuum to the present and adds a note of urgency by flashing the word ‘real’ on and off in this neon sign. (On view in Chelsea through July.  No appointment is necessary but visitors numbers are limited and masks are required.

Andrea Bowers, Climate Change is Real (Multiple), neon, MDO, paint, 20 ¾ x 57 inches, ed of 3 with 2 Aps, 2017.