Constellation

Copied María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Constellation, 2004, instant color prints, each print: 24 x 20 in. (61.0 x 50.8 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2013.23A-P, © 2004, María Magdalena Campos-Pons

Artwork Details

Title
Constellation
Artist
Date
2004
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
each print: 24 x 20 in. (61.0 x 50.8 cm)
Copyright
© 2004, María Magdalena Campos-Pons
Credit Line
Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment
Mediums Description
instant color prints
Classifications
Highlights
Object Number
2013.23A-P
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2013.23A-P

Artwork Description

Campos-Pons’s braided and dreadlocked hair, which meanders across the multipaneled composition, takes the shape of a spiral constellation, or a nest, the temporary home of migrating birds. She created this work, which merges elements of photography, painting, and performance, to explore the parallels between her migration from Cuba and the displacement of Africans during slavery. Each photograph can be read as a dreamy landscape or a lyrical trace of diasporic memories.

Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art, 2013
Description in Spanish

El cabello de Campos-Pons, peinado con trenzas y rastas, va ondulándose a través de la composición de varios paneles hasta tomar la forma espiralada de una constelación, o de un nido, el hogar temporal de las aves migratorias. En esta obra, la artista fusiona elementos de fotografía, pintura y performance, para explorar los paralelismos entre su inmigración desde Cuba y el desplazamiento de africanos en la época de la esclavitud. Cada fotografía puede interpretarse como un paisaje onírico o una huella lírica de recuerdos diaspóricos.

Nuestra América: la presencia latina en el arte estadounidense, 2013

Videos

Related Books

OurAmerica_500.jpg
Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art
Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art explores how Latino artists shaped the artistic movements of their day and recalibrated key themes in American art and culture. This beautifully illustrated volume presents the rich and varied contributions of Latino artists in the United States since the mid-twentieth century, when the concept of a collective Latino identity began to emerge. Our America includes works by artists who participated in all the various artistic styles and movements, including abstract expressionism; activist, conceptual, and performance art; and classic American genres such as landscape, portraiture, and scenes of everyday life. 

Exhibitions

Media - 2011.12 - SAAM-2011.12_1 - 77591
Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art
October 25, 2013–March 2, 2014
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art presents the rich and varied contributions of Latino artists in the United States since the mid-twentieth century, when the concept of a collective Latino identity began to emerge.