may 28 - JULY 3, 2016

abyssal

sara jimenez

curated by Kim whitener

OPENING RECEPTION: SATURDAY, may 28, 5-8pm

Over the past few years, Sara Jimenez has been investigating ideas around cultural displacement, the concept of ‘home’, and invisible narratives. In her process she collects and accumulates physical and ephemeral materials – anecdotes from family members from the Philippines, colonial texts, cultural garments and images. Her research is a form of ‘mining’ – mining both what is available and what remains absent or invisible. This process of uncovering has led her to create the installation ABYSSAL.

ABYSSAL is an imagined oceanic space. Symbolically, the ocean is the connective tissue between ‘here’ (NY) and ‘there’ (the Philippines), two spaces that connote ‘home’ yet neither being a complete cultural anchor. The ocean also symbolizes a mythological dimension of the unknown, where things disappear, are preserved, and transform. Jimenez re-imagines her process of mining personal and historical narratives through the idea of casting wide nets into the deepest parts of the ocean. In the attempt to capture and contain lost information, she acquires natural debris and objects that have been altered and transformed by the water. 

In collaboration with Or Zublasky, Jimenez has created audio vignettes. The audio is a compilation of recorded interviews with various family members from the Philippines, living and deceased. Their voices are contained within the nets, as though these too are mined artifacts being recovered from the brink of obscurity.  

The environment is not a static or fixed space, but rather an unending attempt to excavate the vast space of cultural memory. Two performers in an elevated space continue to weave and create new nets, pointing to endless process that seeking entails. The performance will take place at the opening on May 28 and on each subsequent Sunday afternoon at 4 pm.

Artist Talk: Sunday, June 12,  4pm

Sara Jimenez is a New York-based multi-disciplinary artist. She received her BA from the University of Toronto (2008) and her MFA from Parsons the New School for Design (2013). Her practice explores memory, impermanence, and cultural identity. Residencies include Brooklyn Art Space (2014), Wave Hill’s Winter Workspace (2015), The Vermont Studio Center (2016), and upcoming, the Bronx Museum’s AIM program. Exhibitions include the Pinto Art Museum, Rush Arts Gallery, and The Brooklyn Museum (Tatlo). She has performed at The Noguchi Museum and Dixon Place, among others. This Spring, Jimenez will also have a solo exhibitions at Wayfarers Gallery. Currently she is participating in the Bronx Museum’s AIM program and will be attending the Vermont Studio Center this summer on a full scholarship.

GALLERY HOURS:

Thursday - Sunday, 1 - 6pm, or by appointment. Please email hanne@fivemyles.org, or call 718-783-4438.

DIRECTIONS:

Take 2, 3, or 4 trains to Franklin Avenue. Walk two blocks against the traffic on Franklin. Walk ¾ block to 558 St. Johns Place. FiveMyles is within easy walking distance from the Brooklyn Museum.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

FiveMyles is in part supported by the New York State Council for the Arts, Public Funds from the New York City Dept. of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, Council Member Laurie Cumbo,  The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Foundation, the Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation, the Perlemeter Foundation, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Joseph Robert Foundation, and the William Talbott Hillman Foundation.