Water Labor

Carolina Aranibar-Fernández, Bolivian (active in the United States), born 1990

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2019-2021

Hand-embroidery and sequins on fabric

Frame: 38 13/16 × 49 13/16 in. (98.6 × 126.6 cm)

Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Purchased through the Mrs. Harvey P. Hood W'18 Fund

2024.2

Geography

Place Made: Bolivia, South America

Place Made: United States, North America

Period

21st century

Object Name

Textile

Research Area

Textiles and Costumes

On view

Label

Carolina Aranibar-Fernández employs counter-cartographic techniques that challenge dominant power structures to depict the scale and impact of global trade networks and extractive industries. Using data from Marine Traffic—a maritime analytics provider—Aranibar-Fernández hand-sewed hundreds of red and green sequins over the span of three years to chart the global movement of shipping containers transporting commodities across the world’s oceans. The green sequins stand for the shipping containers, while the red sequins refer to the transport of oil tankers. Aranibar-Fernández’s Water Labor utilizes strategic visual dissonance to bring to light the often- unseen activities on these bodies of water.

From the 2024 exhibition [Un]Mapping: Decolonial Cartographies of Place, curated by Beatriz Yanes Martinez, Hood Museum Board of Advisors Mutual Learning Fellow, Curatorial and Exhibitions

Course History

Engineering Graduate 182.01, Engineering Sciences Masters Program 182.01, Data Analytics, Erin Mayfield, Winter 2024

Spanish 9.02, Culture and Conversation, Mauricio Acuna, Spring 2024

Anthropology 3.01, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Charis Boke, Summer 2024

Exhibition History

[Un]Mapping: Decolonial Cartographies of Place, Harteveldt Family Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 8 -November 3, 2024.

Agua entre la metalurgia (Water in between metallurgy), CUE Foundation, New York, New York, January 19 - March 11, 2023.

Provenance

The artist, San Francisco, California; sold to present collection, 2024.

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