Transparency and Opacity: Jacek J. Kolasiński and Edouard Duval-Carrié
UrbanGlass, NYC | April 12 - June 16, 2023
Caribbean poet, theorist, and scholar Edouard Glissant writes that “opacity” is the right of the subject not to be known and is a condition for a creolized and ethical world to emerge. This exhibition Transparency and Opacity brings together work by artists Jacek J. Kolasiński and Edouard Duval-Carrié that play with “light” to present gender, sexuality, religion, region, and nationality as always in transformation. Kolasiński presents parts of his ongoing Creole Archive (2015-present) that examines the connections between the dark-sinned, doleful Black Madonna of Częstochowa and the Haitian Vodou spirit Ezili Dantò, the patron saint of single mothers, lesbians, and those who identify as transgender and nonbinary and is known for her vengeance and rage. The Madonna is thought to have been brought to Haiti by Poles in the early 19th century. Through a wall of back-lit colorful plexi works, Duval-Carrié evokes Ezili Fréda, often connected to the glamour of pre-Hattian revolutionary mulattas. Fréda is the flamboyant Haitian African spirit of love, beauty, jewelry, dancing, luxury, and flowers. Both artists’ works point to the emancipatory quality of opacity in the face of histories of violence and subjugation of the Caribbean.
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Dr. Alpesh Kantilal Patel
Exhibitions:
Media
Creole Archive Project – Augmented Reality (AR) Experiments at the Vatican (a virtual guerrilla site-specific intervention).
Creole Archive Project – Augmented Reality (AR) Experiments at the Vatican (a virtual guerrilla site-specific intervention).
This work delves into the transnational connections between Poland and the global South, specifically Haiti, and explores the intertwined cultural identities of both nations through the lens of the Black Madonna of Częstochowa. The artist’s virtual guerrilla site-specific intervention within the Vatican City examines the spiritual significance of the Black Madonna and its universal appeal to people worldwide.
Creole Archive Project – Augmented Reality (AR) Experiments at La Biennale di Venezia (a virtual guerrilla site-specific intervention).
This artwork disrupts the conventional channels of art history narratives by incorporating a 3D-printed statue into an international art biennale context through a guerrilla augmented reality intervention. By doing so, the artist challenges established modes of display and representation, prompting the audience to re-examine their assumptions and interact with the artwork in a novel and innovative manner. This intervention also highlights the transformative power of technology in reshaping our understanding of art, history, and culture.
