Remnants- "What Remains”

“Remnants- "What Remains,”
^{Thomas Hunter Project Space, Hunter College
Curated by Aisha Tandiwe Bell}
‍

Juana Valdes’ most current work elicits migration as a complex process, constructing history through a continuum that involves both the homespace of the diasporic community and their new homeland.  In Remnants –“What Remains,” curated by Aisha Tandiwe Bell at the Thomas Hunter Project Space, Juana Valdes reevaluates the worth of artistic production once considered craft-like. She uses them as a medium to identify herself and as a means to subvert the modern conception of value in visual art.

She incorporates ceramic ornaments mass-produced from all over the world as ethnic and religious identification signs that carry aesthetic value of the social class collecting them. These images weave a narrative of historical periods, styles and modes of production. The final outcome speaks of tensions, which explore issues of personal identity and one’s role in multiple collectives.

‍