Flatfile » Mandy Cano Villalobos »

Location: Grand Rapids

Mandy Cano Villalobos

: Cuzco School (branded pig's feet, glass vitrines) This series presents a critical view of the Cuzco School, a painting institution established by Spanish colonizers in the New World. The school's objective, to teach indigenous subjects European religious painting methods, utilized art making as a vehicle for imperialist gain. I re-purpose the pig as a dual signifier for redemption and uncleanliness, branding the foot with decorative designs appropriated from paintings produced within the Cuzco tradition.

: Limpieza de Sangre/Pure Blood (Work shirts of Latin Am. immigrants, pig's blood, wood and metal) The title references colonial Spanish laws that disadvantaged citizens of Jewish and Muslim descent, and later set the ground for New World prejudices. Each shirt is deconstructed and sewn into a skin-like quilt. I then soak these quilts in pig’s blood, a symbol of filth in Jewish and Muslim traditions, but a redeemed animal within a Christian/Catholic context. Building upon these complex histories, the work questions the identity of displaced persons within a current U.S. context.

: Limpieza de Sangre/Pure Blood (Work shirts of Latin Am. immigrants, pig's blood, wood and metal)

: Offering Offering is a video documentation of a 2013 performance at ACRE (Artist Cooperative Residency and Exhibition). Separated from my son during this artist residency, I collected the last of my breastmilk and poured it upon the ground of an abandoned silo. This is one of the first works in a series that explores ritualistic action using body and organic materials.
Credits: Aaron Henderson (camera), Joseph Morris (sound)