July 1 – July 31, 2015
Opening Reception: Wednesday, July 1 from 6-9pm
Y GALLERY
319 Grand St 5th floor
New York, NY 10002
Y GALLERY is pleased to present “JAUJA,” the second solo exhibition of Manuela Viera-Gallo. This exhibition features recent sculptures and drawings that continue the artist’s ten-year work with addressing social and political instabilities. Taking as a point of departure her experience as an immigrant, JAUJA questions the idea of border in immigration. More complex than an imagined geographical line, the border is a flexible limit that exists between reality and the dream of a better future in a utopian world. The pieces in the exhibit express a memory in constant change, lingering between a lost reality and a yearned one. It reflects the risky journey of immigrants in search of this desired future and documents the collective hope that feeds the imagination of what the future will provide.
Taking into account the tradition of mythology, the pieces connect to Jauja, a mythological country where work was unnecessary, and food was abundant. It was a utopian world of freedom and the redemption of the weak and the exhibit questions this utopian society. After the conquest of the Inca Empire of Tahuantinsuyo, an empire known for its immense wealth, by Francisco Pizarro and his troops, the resources became ephemeral. In this instance, the myth of Jauja is recreated, leading people to search for the next utopian world and creating a circular cycle, where the point of arrival is that of departure. By searching for this new society, Jauja remerge from its ashes and moves immigrants in search of the unknown and hidden paradise, creating a singular global world, and at the same time commenting on the fleeting nature of utopia.
The exhibit features several drawings made from sawdust, of which one includes a site-specific, action- based installation, SISIFA. The material represents the fragility and ephemerality of a utopian country, while being transformed from a waste product into a visual image packed with powerful messages. By chasing the utopia, we stumble with reality, and like Sisyphus, everything starts over when the rock falls down. The sculpture, Catching Dream, uses fishing nets to represent the long-searched-for paradise and the catching of dreams. The net catches the dreams of immigrants, who desire a better future in the land of Jauja. To the artist and South American immigrants, Jauja is the United States, a country where dreams and desires are achievable, but the material questions rather it is attainable. In doing so, the past, present and future is confronted with real possibilities and imaginary sceneries.
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