Engage your senses with paintings, sculptures, sounds, scents and live performances, all components of the Henry Art Gallery’s commissioned work from Bolivian-American artist Donna Huanca. Her art is collaborative, bringing together performers, the audience, metal sculptures and mural-sized works.
In this exhibit, a line of steel structures titled “Puerta de Trenzas” or “Gate of Braids” spans the gallery. They are based on Huanca’s drawings of people and groups of people adorned with ropes of braided hair. According to the exhibit description, Huanca’s art “aims to destabilize the male gaze while exploring femme and Indigenous, specifically Andean, narratives and mark-making.”
Four large paintings that surround the stage represent the four seasons in colors of mostly blue, white, green and orange. The olfactory experience includes smells from nature like leather, a tree native to the Yucatan and burnt earth.
“Magma Slit” runs through April 2023.