HCC PopUp Window

Close Window

Unairborne
CANCELLED
by
MARIA SARACENO
The Girls

Human history is packed with examples of oppression of one people or group over another. Evidence of this all too human failing continues to surround us. This evidence is sometimes subtly concealed behind a facade of propriety and fashion. Certainly, religion has played a role in oppressive activities, and even science has been used to rationalize them, as in the case of racial oppression by whites on blacks. Only say these words and mental pictures of extreme oppression come to mind: Jews, Gypsies, Rwandans, non-believers, women, gays, and native peoples.

As we now calmly attend art openings, the struggle against oppression and the denial of basic human rights for peoples of non-mainstream gender identity is being played out in state legislatures and in the politic sof referenda in most of our United States.

Oppressive policies and movements are often symbolized by fabric flags and fabric pins in the case of nationalist oppression, by fabric clothing styles in cases of religious and gender oppression, and by colors and choices of clothing styles in cases of religious oppression. Fabric, in short, has played a large role in the iconography of oppression. The fabric of our culture is, in fact, often kept in rigid visible order by uniforms, costumes, and other clothing accessories.

Fabric is both the metaphor and the vehicle of my artistic expression in this work. Each plate is a tight grouping of colorful stitched individual bird figures, close together and trapped in see-through compartments. The plates are isolated from each other; yet they form a total composition of both oppressors and oppressed. Ironically, the fabric of opression envelops both.

Maria is a sculptor and installation artist with an MFA for the University of South Florida. Born and raised in Italy, but having lived the majority of her life in the US, her work has dealt with issues of marginalization and sociopolitical issues frequently associated with a bicultural person. Maria is the recipient of several awards and of a Pinellas Arts Council Individual Artist Grant. She has exhibited at the Tampa Museum of Fine Art in St. Petersburg and the USF Contemporary Art Museum. Click here to visit her website.

	CANCELLED by MARIA SARACENO

Human history is packed with examples of oppression of one people or group over another. Evidence of this all too human failing continues to surround us. This evidence is sometimes subtly concealed behind a facade of propriety and fashion. Certainly, religion has played a role in oppressive activities, and even science has been used to rationalize them, as in the case of racial oppression by whites on blacks. Only say these words and mental pictures of extreme oppression come to mind: Jews, Gypsies, Rwandans, non-believers, women, gays, and native peoples. As we now calmly attend art openings, the struggle against oppression and the denial of basic human rights for peoples of non-mainstream gender identity is being played out in state legislatures and in the politic sof referenda in most of our United States. Oppressive policies and movements are often symbolized by fabric flags and fabric pins in the case of nationalist oppression, by fabric clothing styles in cases of religious and gender oppression, and by colors and choices of clothing styles in cases of religious oppression. Fabric, in short, has played a large role in the iconography of oppression. The fabric of our culture is, in fact, often kept in rigid visible order by uniforms, costumes, and other clothing accessories. Fabric is both the metaphor and the vehicle of my artistic expression in this work. Each plate is a tight grouping of colorful stitched individual bird figures, close together and trapped in see-through compartments. The plates are isolated from each other; yet they form a total composition of both oppressors and oppressed. Ironically, the fabric of opression envelops both. Maria is a sculptor and installation artist with an MFA for the University of South Florida. Born and raised in Italy, but having lived the majority of her life in the US, her work has dealt with issues of marginalization and sociopolitical issues frequently associated with a bicultural person. Maria is the recipient of several awards and of a Pinellas Arts Council Individual Artist Grant. She has exhibited at the Tampa Museum of Fine Art in St. Petersburg and the USF Contemporary Art Museum. Click here to visit her website.