[Many thanks to Peter Jordens for bringing this item to our attention.] Apollo (The International Art Magazine) recently interviewed Cuban-American artist Teresita Fernández, whose exhibition, “Caribbean Cosmos” is on view at Lehmann Maupin, London, from September 14 to November 5, 2022. [Also see previous post Teresita Fernández: Caribbean Cosmos.]
The New York-based artist Teresita Fernández is best known for her large-scale installations which take inspiration from the landscape and natural phenomena as well as diverse historical and critical references. Through her work, she challenges traditional ways of representing and thinking about place by unravelling narratives around colonialism, power and ecological destruction. Her latest exhibition at Lehmann Maupin in London, titled ‘Caribbean Cosmos’, features a new series of sculptures and installations that draw on imagery of catastrophic weather and natural disasters as metaphors for centuries of injustice on the Caribbean archipelago, the first point of colonial contact in the Americas.
Where is your studio? My studio is located in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, right near the Gowanus Canal, a historically industrial area.
[. . .] Do you work alone? I work alone in the very early hours of the morning and after 5PM. During the day, I usually have my trusted studio manager and four to five assistants helping me with administrative work, preparing surfaces, cutting and laminating charcoal, etc.
What’s the weirdest object in there? An intact, spiny spondylus shell still attached to its coral matrix.
Which artistic tool could you least do without? Bamboo skewers to mix and apply substances, and I also use the pointy end to move tiny pieces of materials as I work.
What’s the most well-thumbed book in your studio? Too many to name! My dear friend, the great scholar Miriam Jiménez Román gifted me many books from her library on Afro-Caribbean/Afro-Cuban history in the months before she passed away, and it occupies a place of importance on my bookshelf.
[. . .] Who is the most interesting visitor you’ve ever had to the studio? I’d change the word interesting here to engaged and engaging. My studio visits and ongoing conversations with Cecilia Vicuña are always really nourishing and expansive. [. . .]
For full interview, see https://www.apollo-magazine.com/in-the-studio-with-teresita-fernandez Also see https://mosaika.com/project/teresita-fernandez-caribbean-cosmos-en (includes photos and two videos) and https://www.instagram.com/teresita.fernandez
[Many thanks to Peter Jordens for bringing this item to our attention.] Apollo (The International Art Magazine) recently interviewed Cuban-American artist Teresita Fernández, whose exhibition, “Caribbean Cosmos” is on view at Lehmann Maupin, London, from September 14 to November 5, 2022. [Also see previous post Teresita Fernández: Caribbean Cosmos.] The New York-based artist Teresita Fernández
