Gente de color

The exhibition Gente de Color (People of Color) articulates from the work of Alexandra Gelis (Cartagena, 1976) and Carlos Martiel (Havana, 1989), it is a conversation that aims to find and point out different tensions that shape the region known as the Caribbean. This diverse, vast and conflictive territory is the scene of multiple realities, which are shaped by the geographic, historical, social and cultural conditions so particular to the region. Colonial control systems continue to have powerful roots within Caribbean societies and their multiple and diverse mechanisms are stubbornly manifested, while some sectors of the population try to maintain their traditions, heritage, and knowledge despite the difficulties they face.

Alexandra Gelis is a Colombian-Venezuelan artist living and working in Toronto, Ontario. Her studio practice combines new media, installation, and photography with custom-built interactive electronics. Her projects incorporate personal field research as a tool to investigate the ecologies of various landscapes by examining the traces left by various socio- political interventions.
Carlos Martiel’s artistic practice focuses on creating works that utilize his body, conceptual elements, specific contexts and the spectator, to evidence power relations between the subjects and the different ways in which power operates. His body of work is dedicated to exploring social themes, existential questions, cultural traditions, and social injustices that occur within and beyond his country of origin, Cuba.

Gelis has exhibited internationally in North and South America as well as Europe and Ethiopia in Africa. Alexandra Gelis has been the recipient of numerous prizes and awards, including the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, Colombian Minister of Culture, among others. She also won the prestigious Colciencias Doctoral Fellowship Program for her Ph.D. research: An Arts-Based Inquiry into plant/human relations in Equinoctial America: a case study of San Basilio de Palenque, Colombia.
Martiel’s works have been included in the 11th Lanzarote Biennial, Spain; Biennial of the Americas, USA; 4th Vancouver Biennale, Canada; 14th Sharjah Biennial, UAE; 14th Cuenca Biennial, Ecuador; 57th Venice Biennale, Italy; Casablanca Biennale, Morocco; Biennial “La Otra”, Colombia; Liverpool Biennial, United Kingdom; Pontevedra Biennial, Spain; Havana Biennial, Cuba. He has had performances at The Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, New York; USA, Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, New York; USA, El Museo del Barrio, New York; USA, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; La Tertulia Museum, Cali, Colombia; Centro de Arte Contemporáneo, Quito, Ecuador; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, USA; The Museum of Fine Arts Houston (MFAH), Houston, USA; Museo de Arte Contemporáneo del Zulia (MACZUL), Maracaibo, Venezuela; Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Milan, Italy; Nitsch Museum, Naples, Italy.