COVER:: THE ART OF LAURA BARBATA

 

The Art of LAURA ANDERSON BARBATA

Mexican, b. 1958

BATIMAMSELLE, 2007

Lenticular print, 24 layers on aluminum Edition of 3

Collaboration with Stefan Falke

The Cornell Fine Arts Museum

Nestled in the heart of Winter Park, on the Rollins College Campus is the Cornell Fine Arts Museum. The Cornell Fine Arts Museum (CFAM) is the only teaching museum in the greater Orlando Area.  CFAM’s broad scope collection includes more than 5,000 objects ranging from antiquity through contemporary eras, including rare Old Master paintings and a comprehensive collection of prints, drawings, and photographs.  It is recognized as one of the largest and most distinguished collections in Florida.  The Museum hosts Teaching Tours, Artist Talks, Art Excursions, and a number of events and programs that focus on the introduction and education of art to youth and families.

The Art of Laura Barbata

On January 16^th “Transcommunality:Laura Anderson Barbata, Collaboration Beyond Borders” opened at CFAM.  This exquisite exhibit focuses on Barbata’s decade-long project with the stilt-walking communities of Trinidad and Tobago, Mexico, and Brooklyn.  “The Transcommunality exhibition aims to connect various cultures through the platform of contemporary art in order to initiate collaborations, exchange and knowledge.  Through this exercise of shared experiences and cultures, we are able to recognize and value each tradition as its own manifestation, which connects us to the past while projecting us towards a future in which all voices have a place and are supported by each other,” states the artist.  

 Laura Anderson Barbata in collaboration with Los Zancudos de Zaachila and the Brooklyn Jumbies  Performance for San Pedro festivities, 2011  Zaachila, Oaxaca  Photo: Marco Pacheco  Courtesy of the artist.

 

Laura Anderson Barbata is a Mexican-born artist based in New York. She is among Mexico’s most distinguished md-career artists.  Barbata is a Professor at the Escuela Nacional de Escultura, Pintura y Grabado La Esmeralda of the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes.  Prior to her project with the stilt-walking communities, Barbata worked with the Yanomami community living in the Amazon Rainforest, creating art projects that document the history of the community.  Among her most well-known projects is “The Repatriation of Julia Pastrana, which involved the return of Ms. Pastrana for burial in her homeland of Mexico.  Her work is included in numerous private and public collections, among them, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City; and Landesbank Baden-Wϋrttemberg, Stuttgart, Germany.    The Transcommunality exhibit may be viewed at the Cornell Fine Arts Museum through April 3, 2016.