Tuesday, October 29

6:00 PM ET

ISLAA Forum on Latin American Art at The Institute of Fine Arts, NYU: Concerning the Spiritual in Contemporary Arts in Latin America and the Caribbean

Over the past decade, scholars and art institutions across the Americas have observed a notable rise in the incorporation of spiritual beliefs into the practices of Latin American and Caribbean artists. Witchcraft, Shamanism, Paganism, Santería, Vodou, Obeah, Candomblé, and Divination have, not without controversy, become central themes in contemporary art discourse within communities of Indigenous artists, artists of color and beyond. These spiritually infused artistic explorations resonate with current decolonial and racial justice concerns, but their resurgence is far from coincidental.

In this program two advanced graduates with close ties to the IFA (Julián Sánchez Gónzalez from Columbia and Horacio Ramos from the Graduate Center, City University of New York) will discuss their work in various Latin American venues in preparation for their PhD dissertations. Both speakers will address issues of race and aesthetic practices, subjects with which they also grappled during their recent activities as Curatorial Research Fellows at the Cisneros Institute at the Museum of Modern Art.

Horacio Ramos, PhD candidate at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, will present “What Constitutes a Painting: Santiago Yahucani and the Modern Arts of the Huitoto People.” Among the Huitoto people of the Peruvian Amazon, everyday items like skirts for dancing, hammocks for resting, and paintings for display are often made from a common material: llanchama, a local fiber, painted with natural pigments such as achiote. In the 1970s, artists like Santiago Yahuarcani (Pucaurquillo, Peru, 1960) began using llanchama as canvases to depict local landscape, stories, and cosmovisions. These artworks eventually made their way from tourist markets in Pebas to prominent art venues like the Venice Biennale and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. This lecture will focus on the techniques Yahuarcani and other Amazonian artists use to apply pigments to this tough, fibrous material, highlighting how llanchamas paintings—whether for daily use or outside audiences—carry deep spiritual and communal significance. By examining the process and technique behind the art, we gain a deeper understanding of how llanchama paintings connect to Huitoto worldviews, often overlooked when viewed solely through the lens of Western painting.

Julián Sánchez Gónzalez, a PhD candidate at Columbia University, will present "Readdressing the Spiritual: Insights from a Dissertation Project on Interspirituality." Over the past decade, scholars and art institutions across the Americas have observed a significant increase in the integration of spiritual beliefs into the practices of Latin American and Caribbean artists. Themes such as witchcraft, shamanism, paganism, Santería, Vodou, Obeah, Candomblé, and Divination have become central—albeit controversial themes in contemporary art discourse. These spiritually infused artistic practices resonate with current decolonial and racial justice concerns, yet their resurgence is far from coincidental. Drawing from ongoing doctoral research, this presentation examines two case studies from the 1970s and 1980s, focusing on artists who used spiritual intermixing to challenge and transcend the social and political constraints of their time through the otherworldly. Sánchez González explores two seemingly contradictory insights: one challenges the assumption that Latin American and Caribbean artists are inherently more spiritually inclined than those from other regions; the other advocates for greater recognition of spirituality as a legitimate scholarly concept in the region’s art historiography, opening new avenues for conceptual and methodological inquiry into this significant subject.

The program will be presented onsite at the James B. Duke House and will also be live streamed via Zoom.

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The ISLAA Forum on Latin American Art is a platform sustained in partnership between The Institute of Fine Arts, NYU and ISLAA. This event series brings artists, scholars, and critics of the arts of the Americas to the Institute of Fine Arts, providing a platform for discussions and debates about diverse issues pertaining to contemporary arts and visual cultures throughout the hemisphere. This series of public programs and events is coordinated by Edward J. Sullivan, Helen Gould Shepard Professor in the History of Art, the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University (NYU), and organized by graduate students. Since partnering with ISLAA in 2011, the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU has hosted more than thirty events bringing artists, scholars, and critics of the arts of the Americas together to discuss and debate diverse issues pertaining to contemporary arts and visual cultures throughout the hemisphere.