Events
Annapolis, Mitchell Art Gallery
Sketchbook to Suspension: Trajectories in the Age of Synthesis
Mitchell Art Gallery
St. John's College - Annapolis
May 21, 2009 through June 11, 2009
Maria Barbosa
Back-and-Forth (2009)
Digital image printed on silk organza on an Epson® 9800 printer, digital embroidery, glow-in-the-dark thread
Barbosa's work invokes both the ancient and the contemporary movement across the Mexican-American border. A 20-foot-long veil of translucent fabric shows a digital aerial image of the border north of Brownsville, Texas, USA, and Matamoros, Mexico. The photograph was taken by the artist during a trip to Mexico City. The convoluted Rio Grande is crisscrossed by embroidered footprints taken from the Borturini Codex, a representation of the travels of the Tenocha-Mexica from Aztlan to Chapultepec. A constellation of small footprints glow in the dark, a reminder of the nocturnal contemporary crossings.