María Magdalena Campos-Pons, When I Am Not Here/Estoy Allá, 1997, Triptych, Polaroid Polacolor Pro 24 x 20 photograph. 72 x 20 inches (182.1 x 50.8 cm)
Gallery Wendi Norris congratulates four North American museums on their acquisitions of seminal artworks by María Magdalena Campos-Pons: Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR; Haggerty Museum of Art, Milwaukee, WI; The Jorge M. Perez Collection / El Espacio 23, Miami, FL; and the Institute of Contemporary Art / Boston, MA.
Joining the Crystal Bridges collection is Campos-Pons’ When I am not here/ Estoy allá (1997), a triptych of large-format Polaroid photographs of the artist in a blue gingham dress. The artwork is an homage to Yemeya, the Orisha goddess of the ocean and motherhood, who is traditionally represented in blue and white.
The Haggerty Museum acquired Nesting IV (2000), a four-part composition depicting the artist entangled in her own hair, bisected by sea-blue panels. This work along with When I am not here/Estoy allá will both be on view in the Haggerty Museum’s forthcoming solo exhibition for Campos-Pons, Sea and Self, curated by Tatiana Flores. The exhibition opens August 20 after traveling from Rutgers University in 2019.
The Jorge M. Pérez Collection added Finding Balance (2015) to their collection of multiple works by Campos-Pons for the art space, El Espacio 23. This towering, 28-panel Polaroid work documents the artist’s performance and installation for the Cuban Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale. The work is currently on view at El Espacio 23 in the exhibition, WITNESS: Afro Perspectives from the Jorge M. Pérez Collection.
The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston added Classic Creole (2003) to their collection. In this nine-panel Polaroid piece, the artist transforms her body into an amorphous, statuesque form against a golden backdrop. She frames the composition with hand-carved beads depicted with architectural scale, accentuating the totemic depiction of her body at the center.
Campos-Pons’ work is currently on view in the following public exhibitions: Promise, Witness, Remembranceat the Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY through June 6; and Eye to I: Self Portraits from the National Portrait Gallery at the Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi through May 16.
