Juana Valdés: Embodied Memories, Ancestral Histories at Sarasota Art Museum Features Powerful Works Anchored in Historical and Personal Narratives
The artist’s first solo museum exhibition presents selected works from throughout her 30-year career and explores the history of migration between the Caribbean and the United States, gender, race, and the representation of the female body
SARASOTA, Fla. (Sept. 27, 2023) – Sarasota Art Museum of Ringling College of Art and Design is pleased to present Juana Valdés: Embodied Memories, Ancestral Histories, on view Oct. 22, 2023-Feb. 11, 2024. For 30 years, Juana Valdés has transformed ideas, thoughts, and feelings into works of art anchored in stories, many of which are inspired by her personal experiences.
Embodied Memories, Ancestral Histories, Valdés’ first solo exhibition at a museum, encompasses many concepts and complexities. The story she tells unravels as the visitor moves through the galleries and becomes acquainted with three main topics that are not necessarily exclusive: “The History of Migration,” “Representation and Subjectivity,” and “Materiality.” Through many of the works featured in the exhibition, Valdés has generated a voice and a discourse inspired by themes such as colonization’s history and migration’s impact.
“We are delighted to showcase Juana’s world-renowned works in her first solo museum exhibition,” said Virginia Shearer, executive director of Sarasota Art Museum. “Many people in our community have lived the experiences interwoven throughout Embodied Memories, Ancestral Histories. By sharing these diverse works of art illustrating those experiences, we hope to elevate their own unique histories and their important place in our broader human narrative.”
Another significant theme in Embodied Memories, Ancestral Histories, is the issue of gender and the representation of the feminine body. Through several works, Valdés invites the public to reflect on the objectification of the female body and the “whitening of race” as a legacy of colonialism. Race is a connecting thread that links the different sections of the exhibition, an issue that she addresses from her experience as a woman of color living in the United States.
Ceramic (bone china porcelain fired at 1234c), 12 x 3 x 4 in. (each). Courtesy of the artist; Photo: Diana Larrea.
4K video, loop (13:35 min), and shipping palettes. Director and Producer: Juana Valdés; Cinematographer: Lee Burghard (Camera Operator & DP); Editor: Setty McIntosh; Assistant Editor, Sound Editor, Mix Engineer, Sound Design, and Composer: Onel Mulet. Courtesy of the artist; Photo: Zachary Balber.
Valdés’ choice of materials is as important as the themes she conveys. Working in a range of both traditional and non-traditional media—from ceramics, with all its associations of feminine and manual work, to new media—she communicates ideas of the personal and subjective while at the same time challenging the canon of art. Her audiovisual work highlights her entire oeuvre as an archive through which she analyzes and recodifies topics that include transnationalism, migration, race, gender, and discrimination at work, and the Latinx discourse she deals with from her experience as an Afro-Cuban woman residing in the United States.
Mixed media (bone china, wood, metal, and sheetrock), 96 x 15 x 144 in.; Framed digital photographs on Hahnemühle paper, 11 x 14 in. (each). Courtesy of the artist.
Juana Valdés (b. Pinar del Rio, Cuba) is the recipient of the Ford and Mellon Foundations Latinx Artists Fellowship (2022), the Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant (2018), and The Hermitage Artist Retreat residency (2017-2020), among others. In 2022, the City of Miami Beach selected Valdés’ work shown at Art Basel Miami Beach for its 2022 Legacy Purchase Program acquisition. Her work has also been included in group exhibitions at institutions such as SITE Santa Fe, New Mexico; El Museo del Barrio, New York; MoMA PS1, New York; Galerie Verein Berliner Künstler, Berlin; The Newark Museum of Art, New Jersey; Galerie Binnen, Amsterdam; and FreeSpace, Sydney.
“As an artist, I make art to create a space in which others can enter and reflect on their own experiences,” said Valdés.
“I am excited for Juana to present her first one-artist show representative of 30 years of her life and work. Seeing Juana’s works together for the first time is like reading a novel from the beginning instead of a few chapters here and there. It is meaningful that this exhibition takes place in Florida, where she arrived as a Cuban immigrant at seven years old. Her art allows us to relate to and learn from her journey and the significant issues she addresses,” said the guest curator, Francine Birbragher-Rozencwaig.
Courtesy of the artist; Photo: Predro Wazzan.
Embodied Memories, Ancestral Histories is organized by Sarasota Art Museum of Ringling College of Art and Design and curated by Francine Birbragher-Rozencwaig, Ph.D., independent curator.
This exhibition is made possible, in part, by Sarasota County Tourist Development Tax revenues.
Pfaff was born in London and relocated to Detroit as a preteen. She holds a Master of Fine Arts from Yale University (New Haven, Connecticut) and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Washington University (St. Louis).
Sarasota Art Museum is Ringling College of Art and Design’s dynamic laboratory for the exploration and advancement of contemporary art. As Sarasota’s only museum solely focused on contemporary artists and their work, Sarasota Art Museum showcases art that is happening now. Audiences can learn more about Embodied Memories, Ancestral Histories by visiting sarasotaartmuseum.org/juana-valdes.
Related Public Programs:
Opening Day Talk: Juana Valdés and Francine Birbragher-Rozencwaig, Ph.D.
Saturday, Oct. 21 at 1 pm
Sarasota High School Alumni Auditorium at Sarasota Art Museum
Members: FREE; Not-Yet Members: $20 (includes Museum Admission)
Registration Required
For this special conversation, artist Juana Valdés and guest curator Francine
Birbragher-Rozencwaig, Ph.D., will discuss the artist’s career and the works exhibited in
Embodied Memories, Ancestral Histories. Valdés will draw from her personal history to
speak on her Afro-Cuban heritage and how that identity is addressed in her work
from a feminist perspective. She will also share how her Caribbean roots intermix with themes related to the ocean, including migration, transnationalism, and exile.
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