Opening Reception for Mourning And Scars: 20 Years After the War

SOMArts Cultural Center presents Mourning and Scars: 20 Years After the War, a group exhibition February 1 through 28, 2013, curated by 2012–2013 SOMArts’ Commons Curatorial Residency recipient Roxana Leiva. Works of art in a variety of media, including paintings, video, textile sculpture and large-scale multimedia installations, explore the individual experiences of reconstruction and healing in the context of El Salvador’s postwar period.

Thirteen Salvadoran artists artists now living in California and New York draw upon their various experiences and family histories to create poignant works that grapple with the trauma of persecution and exile, and reveal complex personal and bi-national identities.

For the opening reception, exhibiting artist Leticia Hernández-Linares performs audience-interactive music and spoken word, including an original song, “Hijas del Volcán,” or “Daughters of the Volcano,” inspired by Prudencia Ayala, who was in 1930 the first woman in history to seek presidential nomination in El Salvador. Ayala’s candidacy was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of El Salvador. During her performance the audience uses a Polaroid camera to populate a visual history of Hernández-Linares for a photo album within her installation, “Papeleo.”

For more information visit: http://www.somarts.org/mourningopens/