Artist: Sarah Zapata
Exhibition title: In vastness of borrowed time (the taxing of a fruitful procession)
Venue: Crisis, Lima, Peru
Date: August 21 – October 22, 2021
Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Crisis, Lima
The work of Sarah Zapata (1988, Corpus Christi-TX) is produced from the dislocated space she occupies in society as a queer artist raised under evangelical education in Texas, isolated from the Peruvian roots of part of her family. Her practice is comprised of writing and the innovative use of textile techniques inherited from prehispanic and traditionally feminine crafts developed over generations, employed in Peruvian communities to this day. These manual processes are combined with modern and industrial carpet manufacturing techniques, to give way to colorful and tactile sculptures and installations, exploring themes such as gender, ethnicity, colonialism and performativity.
Last year, Sarah’s first exhibition in Peru, The taxing of a fruitful procession at the MATE museum, was canceled due to the COVID19- pandemic. For the show, she wove together different materials that formed a pile of soft rocks, creating a barrier of colors and textures from which faces emerge. Taking as a reference the collapsed walls of the Battle of Jericho and the stone constructions of the Inca fortress of Sacsayhuaman, this textile geography alludes to the passage of time and the sedimentary creation of traditions. With the artist in Lima finishing the installation, the opening was suspended and the show never opened due to the extensive quarantine.
After departing to New York on a diplomatic flight, where she found himself under lockdown again, Zapata began working on a new series inspired by the city’s gargoyles, symbols of change and the uncontrollable, but possible illustrations of fantasy and the possibility of a different future. A conflation of textile and ceramics in a landscape, these artworks integrate the recent experiences of the artist in a celebration of the land and the intense passing of time. As if going back in time, the artist works with herself in the pre-pandemic past, interrelating these two moments.
The work of Sarah Zapata has been exhibited at the New Museum, El Museo del Barrio, Museum of Arts and Design New York, Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, Boston University, LAXART, Arsenal Contemporary New York, among others. She has been part of the residence programs of the Museum of Arts and Design New York, MASS MoCA, A-Z West and Wave Hill.
The exhibition will be open from August 21 to October 2021 ,22. To book an appointment and for more information, visit www.crisis.pe.
