Untitled (Identity Could Be A Tragedy), from the series When I Am Not Here / Estoy Alla

Label

En una entrevista en 1998 con Lynne Bell, María Magdalena Campos-Pons observó que la fotografía es un "medio muy convincente para hablar de nociones de individualidad", destacando las formas en que el medio manifiesta la inmediatez del proceso de la creación de imágenes. Campos-Pons utiliza Polaroids, específicamente, para registrar la contemplación de su propia identidad. Como una mujer cubana y negra que vive en los Estados Unidos, y como artista y activista de un país que históricamente ha tenido una relación tumultuosa con su lugar de residencia, Campos-Pons nos demuestra las complejidades de su identidad. En esta fotografía sin título que alude a las restricciones de viaje que limitaban su acceso a Cuba en la década de los 90, Campos-Pons usa maquillaje de color café para escribir la frase "IDENTITY COULD BE A TRAGEDY" (La identidad podría ser una tragedia) en su pecho, desafiando a los espectadores a dialogar con su autorretrato. La legislación de los Estados Unidos ha politizado y complejizado las identidades de los latinx, especialmente con respecto a Cuba. Esta imagen evoca la introspección de las personas latinx mientras consideran su propia posición como migrantes o hijos de migrantes. Ambos sienten la urgencia de establecer una identidad en una nación que puede ser poco acogedora de personas de identidad mixta. Como consecuencia, esta circunstancia les hace cuestionar sus conexiones con la cultura y la tradición.

From the 2019 exhibiton A Space for Dialogue 93, Los Mojados: Migrant Bodies and Latinx Identities, curated by Armando Pulido '19, Class of 1954 Intern

In a 1998 interview with Lynne Bell, María Madgalenda Campos-Pons noted that photography is a "very compelling medium to comment on ideas of selfhood," highlighting the ways that the medium captures the immediacy of the image-making process. Campos-Pons uses Polaroids, specifically, to capture the contemplation of her own identity. As a Black Cuban woman living in the United States, and as an artist and activist coming from a country that historically has had a tumultuous relationship with her place of residence, Campos-Pons addresses the complexities behind her positionality. In his untitled photograph alluding to travel restrictions that limited her access to Cuba in the 1990s, Campos-Pons used brown made-up to write the phrase "IDENTITY COULD BE A TRAGEDY" across her chest, challenging viewers to engage with her self-portrait. Latinx identities are politicized and complicated by U.S. legislation, especially with regard to Cuba. This image recalls the introspection of Latinx people considering their own positionality as migrants or children of migrants. Both feel a sense of urgency to establish an identity in a nation that ca be unwelcoming of their hybrid identity, throwing their ties to culture and tradition into question.

From the 2019 exhibiton A Space for Dialogue 93, Los Mojados: Migrant Bodies and Latinx Identities, curated by Armando Pulido '19, Class of 1954 Intern

Course History

HIST 6.3, AAAS 88.2, WGST 38.2, Women and Gender in the African Diaspora, Rashauna Chenault, Spring 2012

FREN 7, French Graphic Novels, Annabelle Cone, Spring 2013

ENVS 80, Writing Our Way Home: The Writing That Sustains Us, Terry Tempest Williams, Spring 2013

WRIT 5, Identity in the Migration Memoir, Lisa Lopez Synder, Winter 2014

WRIT 5, Identity in the Migration Memoir, Lisa Lopez Synder, Winter 2014

ANTH 3, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Chelsey Kivland, Winter 2015

ANTH 3, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Chelsey Kivland, Winter 2015

LATS 41, Latinos in Media and Arts, Douglas Moody, Spring 2019

SART 30, SART 75, Photography II and III, Virginia Beahan, Spring 2019

ANTH 33, AAAS 83.8, LACS 38, Global Caribbean, Chelsey Kivland, Spring 2019

LALACS 80.2, GOVT 84.6, AAAS 90.1, Latin American, Latino and Caribbean Studies, Identities and Power in the Americas, Lisa Baldez, Spring 2019

ARTH 48.06, Borderlands Art and Theory, Tatiana Reinoza, Spring 2019

WGSS 10.01, Sex, Gender, and Society, Douglas Moody, Fall 2019

WGSS 10.02, Sex, Gender, and Society, Kristen O'Rourke, Fall 2019

WGSS 10.03, Sex, Gender, and Society, Jenn Sargent, Fall 2019

WGSS 10.04, Sex, Gender, and Society, Susan Brison, Fall 2019

LATS 7.02, Latinxs in Media & Arts, Douglas Moody, Winter 2020

PORT 8, Brazilian Portraits, Carlos Minchillo, Winter 2020

SPAN 7.02, Mural Art in Mexico, Douglas Moody, Spring 2021

SPAN 7.02, Mural Art in Mexico, Douglas Moody, Spring 2021

First Year Student Enrichment Program, John Pfister, Summer 2021

AAAS 88.19, Contemporary African-American Artists, Michael Chaney, Summer 2021

First Year Student Enrichment Program, Israel Reyes, Summer 2021

LATS 03, Introduction to Latino Studies, Marcela Di Blasi, Fall 2021

LACS 80.02/AAAS 90.01/GOVT 84.06, Identity and Power, Lisa Baldez, Winter 2022

WGSS 16.01, Contemporary Issues in Feminism, Mingwei Huang, Spring 2021

ANTH 50.21/AAAS 88.17, Filmmaking & Visual Culture, Jesse Shipley, Summer 2022

Exhibition History

A Space for Dialogue 93, Los Mojados: Migrant Bodies and Latinx Identities, Armando Pulido, Class of 2019, Class of 1954 Intern, Alvin P. Gutman Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, May 11-June 16, 2019.

Black Womanhood: Images, Icons, and Ideologies of the African Body, Friends Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, April 1-August 10, 2008; Davis Museum and Cultural Center, Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts, September 10-December 10, 2008; San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, California, January 21-April 26, 2009.

Made in the Middle: Constructing Black Identities across the African Diaspora, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Anthropology 3, Winter 2015, Chelsey Kivland, Teaching Exhibition, Ivan Albright Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, November 15, 2014-March 15,2015.

Word and Image in Contemporary Art, Churchill P. Lathrop Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, March 26-August 4, 2013.

Publication History

Barbara Thompson, Black Womanhood: Images, Icons, and Ideologies of the African Body, Seattle: University of Washington Press [Hanover: Trustees of Dartmouth College], 2008, ill. plate 120.

Mark. A. Grimsley, Black Womanhood: A History of Misrepresentation, The Collegiate Journal of Art, Spring 2008, Volume IV, 2008, pp. 118-119, ill. p. 119.

Brian P. Kennedy and Emily Shubert Burke, Modern and Contemporary Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Museum of Art, Hanover: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 2009 p.205, no.259.

Armando Pulido, Class of 2019, Class of 1954 Intern, A Space for Dialogue 93, Los Mojados: Migrant Bodies and Latinx Identities, Hanover, New Hampshire: Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, 2019.

Provenance

Howard Yezerski Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts; sold to present collection, 2008.

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