The Secret

Cecilia Paredes, Peruvian, born 1950

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2018

Inkjet print

Edition 3/7 plus 3 AP

Overall: 55 × 33 in. (139.7 × 83.8 cm)

Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Purchased through the Mrs. Harvey P. Hood W'18 Fund and the Sondra and Charles Gilman Jr., Foundation Fund

2021.12

Geography

Place Made: Peru, South America

Period

21st century

Object Name

Photograph

Research Area

Photograph

On view

Label

Centered in the photograph’s composition, the artist wears a garment and body paint that blend her figure into the setting. Holding her hands before her face to hide any features or expression, she all but disappears into this highly ornate and feminine space. Thus camouflaged, Paredes asks how our identities are intrinsically connected to the environments we occupy. We have little information about this setting, in fact; no furniture or props add context, taking away the chance to know but providing many opportunities to imagine. Paredes’s photographs in this series document performances of her creating floral settings that she then melds into, her presence becoming a part of the decorative space.

From the 2024 exhibition An Instant Out of Time: Shaping a Collection, curated by Alisa Swindell, Associate Curator of Photography

Course History

ARTH 5.01, Introduction to Contemporary Art, Mary Coffey and Chad Elias, Winter 2022

ARTH 5.01, Introduction to Contemporary Art, Mary Coffey and Chad Elias, Winter 2022

Art History 40.03, Latin American and Caribbean Studies 20.11, Art and Politics in Latin America, Mary Coffey, Fall 2023

Art History 40.03, Latin American and Caribbean Studies 20.11, Art and Politics in Latin America, Mary Coffey - OPEN HOURS, Fall 2023

Art History 40.03, Latin American and Caribbean Studies 20.11, Art and Politics in Latin America, Mary Coffey - OPEN HOURS, Fall 2023

Writing 5.32, Photographic Representations, Amanda Wetsel, Winter 2024

Writing 5.33, Photographic Representations, Amanda Wetsel, Winter 2024

Art History 48.02, Histories of Photography, Katie Hornstein, Spring 2024

African and African American Studies 63.01, Sociology 71.01, Race Matters: Race Made to Matter, Trica Keaton, Spring 2024

Music 18.03, African and African American Studies 39.07, Verzuz: A History of Black Popular Music, Allie Martin, Spring 2024

Exhibition History

An Instant Out of Time: Shaping a Collection, Ivan Albright Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, April 20-July 21, 2024.

Provenance

Ruiz-Healy Art, New York, New York; sold to present collection, 2021.

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