2023.1995 Text on work

2023-2019. Studio Osaira Muyale.Birds of Paradise’ A new language. Mixed media, variable dimensions. Research work on a new freedom. Narratives on project Blue Horses. Powered by Mondriaan Fund. Kunstenaar Basis 2023-2027.

2021. Zeitgeist. Studio Osaira Muyale. New Silence.Orientation on human ecology and frequency. ‘I am a human being, a spirit, a fish, a plant, a horse’ The history of water guides the soul’s passage to the milky way. Human body is 70 percent of water and water is able to memorize and transport information. Words are an expression of the soul and have influence. The individual and society make up an enormous ocean. By adding our individual drops to this ocean, we participate in the formation of society. The space that grief, generates its mark by the absence of words.

(2019.2022) Freeflow.5LiQUIDnarratives. Research and new work made during the pandemic and installed at studio Osaira Muyale. The general theme on the work is analyzing identity, deconstructing and reconstructing on space and time. Rewriting and healing historical, generational and national wounds and traumas. Through this journey, i met my ancestors, Saints,  reality eyes and passionate ears, love and kindness, i healed deep wounds, met a new language, a new tribe, parallel lines time and space.  (2019.2022). I am not alone – mixed media, variable dimensions (2019- 2022), carbon paper, ink, black charcoal. 21.5cm x 27.9cm. Ancestors – mixed media, variable dimensions (2020.2022). plaster and acrylic, 1.20 meter x 50 cm x 50 cm. Ancestors – mixed media, variable dimensions (2019.2022). digital print of self image layers merged foreground shots of Euphemia Muyale van Heusden (mother) and Greto Simplicio Muyale (father). Ancestors. mixed media, variable dimensions (2020.2022). plaster, sculpture ears in plaster, perforated body part on mannequin, acrylic. 1.80 meter x 45cm x 50cm. Ancestors – mixed media, variable dimensions (2020.2022). plaster and acryl. 1.80 meter x 45cm x 50cm. Ancestors. mixed media, variable dimensions (2020.2022). plaster, sculpture ears in plaster, bodypart of mannequin, acryl. 1.80 meter x 45cm x 50cm. Whispers – mixed media, variable dimensions (2019.2022). drawings on canvas and wall. water color. wall space 2.10 meter x 2.30 meter. Ancestors – mixed media, variable dimensions (2020.2022). inkt on paper 25 x 25 x 4 cm.  Ancestors – mixed media, variable dimensions (2019.2022). plaster. 25 x 25 x 4 cm. Gost with a soul -. mixed media, variable dimensions. (2015.2022). plaster, acrylic. 2. meter x 80cm x 1.50.meter. Mapping my body –  mixed media, variable dimensions (1995.2022). Hair, 62x33x13cm. Mapping my body – mixed media, variable dimensions (2019.2022). mannequin body parts,  pen. 64 x 24x 24cm. Mapping my body – mixed media, variable dimensions (2019.2022).

 

2019.2020.  Not Alone, New Silence . Human Ecology, a research on, ‘The Allegory of the Cave’, presented by the Greek philosopher Plato’s cave (514a-520a). To equate the effect of education on ecology verses interpersonal archetype frequencies.(2019/2020).

 

2018-2017. Mare Nostrum (22 September 2017- 8 April 2018). Maczul – Museo Arte Contemporaneo Zulia Maracaibo, Venezuela. Antiguo Templo de San Isidro, La Sabana de Maracaibo, Venezuela. Concept : A sea of dreams is part of an ongoing project called ‘only beautiful words’ It investigates the relationship in between time, space and memory, representing a catalyst, suggesting public communication, community solidarity and collective consciousness. A Restoration of a typical Dutch dressed in a Volendam costume at La Plaza Antillean, la Vela del Coro, Estado Falcon Venezuela. The  Ancient Antilles in 1879. Formation of the historic center declared as  the Cultural Institute of Humanities in 1993. The main situation of the Plaza Antillana was influenced by the Dutch and Antillean. This identification permits the importance of the Venezuelan and world economy from the end of XIX century . (Ref. Catalog of Cultural Venezuelan heritage ( 2004-2005). The Dutch dressed in a Volendam costume at La Plaza Antillean, la Vela del Coro, Estado Falcon Venezuela was made to a honor of a prosperous, dynamic commercial relationship exchange with Holland, the Caribbean and Venezuela. Precious goods like among others plants. With the independence and conquest of the republic these relations continued their course reaching the present time, a time full of new challenges to review these historical processes, from the past and the present. Sub concept: Precious goods. Based on a dialogue with plants. Plants are mainly multi cellular, predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom of Plantae. Contemporary capitalism, postindustrial society,  postmodern language. The history of  plants are  sustainable traces human- dominated ecological systems from the earliest civilizations to the present time.  This history is characterized by the increased regional success of a particular society, followed by crises that were either resolved, producing sustainability, or not, leading to decline. Sustainability is studied and managed over many scales (levels or frames of reference) of time and space from the total carrying capacity(sustainability) of planet Earth to the sustainability of economic sectors, ecosystems, countries, municipalities, and in many contexts of environmental, social and economic organization. The focus ranges neighborhoods, home gardens, individual lives, individual goods and services occupations, lifestyles, behavior patterns and so on. In short, it can entail the full compass of biological and human activity or any part of it.

 

2018. (22 September 2017- 8 April) – Museo Arte Contemporaneo de Zulia, Venezuela. Text by Mr.Juan Bracho, Bachelor in Education Mention Social Sciences and  Master of Science  in History of Venezuela, from the University of Zulia. Researcher at the Experimental Center for Latin American Studies: “Dr. Gastón Parra Luzardo “(CEELA) and the Center for Historical Studies (L.U.Z.). Currently, holds a PhD in Human Sciences at the University of Zulia. Osaira Muyale is inspired by the iconic Plaza Antillana (Antillana square) from La Vela de Coro, where it is, looking towards Aruba and Curaçao, the sculpture “Mujer Holandesa” (Dutch Woman), dressed in a Vollendame suit and a walkway with klompen (well-known wooden shoes in Hispano-America as “Suecos”), holds in its arms a tulips bouquet representing the Netherlands wealth.Originally on the pedestal rested small replicas of the Caribbean islands of Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire, which were removed in an act of unconsciousness. On its side is the old customs building, whose structure is strongly marked by Dutch architectural currents of the eighteenth and nineteenth century. This square was financed by the Netherlands government at the end of the 60s as a tribute to the turbulent relations existing between the Venezuelan people, formerly Hispanic colony, and the Kingdom of the Netherlands present in the extinct Netherlands Antilles. Even though this sculpture is loaded with meaning symbolism, it is notorious the little documentation existing around this place, the anonymity of the sculptor and the population disinterest in terms of historical and artistic representation. This leads us to infer that the “Dutch Woman” is really a tribute to non official relationships, that is, illicit commercial relationships that join our peoples in everyday life, so this monument is an important silent witness of history, but at the same time is relegated in the memories of the people. In the work, Muyale focuses on the sculpture replica “Dutch Woman”, projected in intense blue that resembles the Caribbean Sea heart, from the klompen starts a spiral that covers a large part of the installation, touching, in the background, the expanded reproduction of the Vela de Coro customs building. In the essence of the spiral, the artist manages to combine two aspects of great social and personal relevance; on one hand, historical irreverence, revealing the need to analyze centuries of history hidden in the bowels of government, which mutilate the historical memories of our societies; on the other hand, the origin of his Dutch and Lebanese family, his ancestors pilgrimage through the Caribbean, and the passion of his father for the memorable breeding of horses in Aruba. Thinking on our Caribbean, is not just imaging its exuberant landscapes and material riches, but also the humans and their history, who in their geography have articulated the social space that is expressed in the Caribbean reason, constituted by the multiplicity of cultures that look towards the Caribbean Sea. The native ethnic groups mixture, the African brought as slaves and the Western-European world, have inherited to us a complex and abundant cultural network, manifesting themselves “civilized” in the religions, languages, traditions, customs and official histories, functional to satisfy the political-religious needs of the states; in the same way, the “ordinary” expressions that are in the historical silences of the memories, that survive in our daily lives, and even today are contrary to the imposed “civilization”. In this lies the imperative need to understand the Caribbean as a social space, with a diversity of identities that converge in the spatial, merging –along the time – our fragmented cultures. In this sense, the understanding of our cultures must be subject to an historical analysis that allows us to visualize the process that led to our social realities as peoples in the Caribbean, energized by economic and political activities, whose actions influence the complex cultural background. This would be the first step to reveal our historical wounds, from the imposition of dividing borders in our common space, to the popular expressions rejected by the western worldview; for that reason, only from the culture and the strong artistic manifestations, contextualized in a tangible reality, can begin to reveal the historical silences of our memories. As an act of centennial and even millennial rebellion, the Aruban artists Osaira Muyale, Ryan Oduber, Glenda Heyliger and Elvis López, through the Mare Nostrum exhibition face the need to rediscover our history within the diversity of identities that characterize us, facing a rigid history that has separated of from each other, when in fact we are all! In this journey, it will be essential to approach the ancestral human relations in the Caribbean, our indigenous, European and African ancestors that, in whose daily work they forge in time the current Caribbean social scenario overshadowed by history, the understanding of this contributes to the artistic exposition of Mare NostrumThe indigenous Caribbean From the blue morning twilights to the reddish sunsets, the colors that paint the Caribbean horizon are diverse. To the east emerges the bent spine of the Antilles, whose islands make their way to the Atlantic Ocean, Europe and Africa; to the west the firm coast with its beaches, gulfs, bays, rivers and littorals represent a splendid refuge. These maritime, insular and terrestrial spaces were articulated by the Anahuac indigenous families (Tainos, Caquetíos, Wayuu) and the Caribes who, by means of extraordinary navigational skills, their original ecological harvest systems, the marine and terrestrial resources exploitation, the consolidation of the “cacicazgos” (indigenous governments) and the consequent stability of their peoples (cultures, customs, traditions) allowed their domains consolidation. In these circumstances, relations in the southern Caribbean were controlled by the Caquetío people, expanding their “cacical” (indigenous government) control from Paraguaná to the actual interior western of Venezuela (Sanoja, 2011; 2013), and northward to the islands of Aruba Curaçao and Bonaire; allowing commercial, social and cultural flow from the interior of the coast to the heart of the sea. Towards the 15th century, the improvement of navigation techniques and political – cultural control of the region, led the Caribbean social space to propitiate -undoubtedly- the ethnic relations (peaceful or warlike) with the developed region of Central America and with the rest of the Antilles; This would outline the islands as control centers for the indigenous hegemony over the sea, whose spatial articulation is the fundamental origin of the European settlements that began to be imposed in these territories at the end of the 15th century. European capitals control the Caribbean Sea, the islands and Tierra Firme.In Europe, the emergence of mercantile capitalism on the feudal regime during the 15th century, generated the search for new trade routes to the traditional suppliers of Asian goods, India and China, promoting exploratory trips sponsored by the Iberian kingdoms of Spain and Portugal (Puiggrós, 2005). Reason why the contact with the rich lands currently known as America, supplied the existing commercial needs and, in response to their political, imperial and market interests promoted the occupation – appropriation of the lands “discovered and undiscovered” together with their seas. During this process, the sea and Caribbean islands played a fundamental role as operation bases for the installation of the political-administrative institutions of the Hispanic government, and their progressive expansion into the interior of the continental lands; they also served as military centers for the protection of conquered and unconquered territories (Ramos, 1978). In the case of Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire, islands that despite their small population and lacking resources for survival, were strategic for the Hispanic control of a large part of Tierra Firme since their small ports served as a link for the landing of supplies on the coast of Paraguaná, propitiating the foundations of Coro, la Vela, Maracaibo and El Tocuyo (Nectario María, 1959; 1967), becoming part of the imperial economic gear between the ports of Hispaniola, Cuba, Veracruz, Santa Marta, Cartagena de Indias and Portobelo. Meanwhile, the English, French and Dutch economies operate in order to conquer territories in America, for the establishment of commercial branches in response to the new commercial variant existing between the Iberian Peninsula and America; this explains the Dutch occupation of the islands of Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire by the Company of the West Indies during the first half of the 17th century (Fundación Polar, 1988). This situation that allows the strategic alliance between Dutch merchants, most of them Sephardic, and indigenous islanders, beginning commercial relations with the indigenous people who lived in the Hispanic Tierra Firme territories that, taking advantage of  political-administrative conjuncture, used their ancestral knowledge and skills in the autochthonous terrain for their fair benefit against the Hispanic invader. This new stage of relations (between Dutch, sephardic and indigenous) leads to the commercial exchange of raw materials extracted from the Spanish colonies, such as palo de brasil, dividivi, añil, hides, precious metals, tallow, tobacco, sugar, cotton, in the same time it was placed in the hands of indigenous people and settlers, weapons, gunpowder, ammunition, liquors and excellent horses raised on the Aruba island (Moreno, Tarazona, 1984, González, 1997, Oquendo, 2001). Similarly, the imperial piracy policy was established by Netherlands, England and France, whose ships constantly attacked the Spanish ports and Tierra Firme, as well as the commercial fleet, whose objective will be to directly and indirectly induce the commercial sabotage and undermine the Spanish political structure. For that reason in 1772 the provincial authorities request the governor and the New Kingdom of Granada general captain, to repair the coastal fortifications in the presence of foreign powers indicating, the “[…] precise need to strengthen this coast, because it should be regarded as a key to these Indies, and for being today surrounded by foreigners […] the Dutch by the San Eustaquio islands, Sava, Curaçao, Aruba, Bonaire and Suriname ” (Briceño, 1965). With the Utrecht (1713) and Rastadt (1714) agreements the control of the American gold, the African slave trade -and the commercial routes in general- are strengthened, making a wide range of contraband and piracy more complex, consolidating the Caribbean as a sea of Foreign relations, while the majority of the Antilles become colonial enclaves of Dutch, French and English, in this way begins the progressive closure for Spain of the hegemony that it possessed in its European and American enclaves (Vázquez, 1986). In response to mercantile needs, the European powers, through the geopolitical game, provoked the need to initiate the independence process in the Hispanic- American colonies in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, leading to the creation of new republics and new trading partners, whose economies will be clearly committed to Holland, France and especially England. Nowadays, the inherited borders of Hispanic, French, English and Danish administrative policies continue to separate and making invisible the ancestral relations that join us for the very fact of living in our Caribbean, condemning to silence the daily “illicit” relations that are maintained spontaneously. 2018. (22 September 2017- 8 April) – Museo Arte Contemporaneo de Zulia, Venezuela. Mare NostrumToday the Caribbean is passion and fervor that has fused history into cultural diversity, religions, languages, flavors, colors, histories, customs, traditions and those memories that lie in memories. In the same way, it is represented in social, economic and political crises that put at risk the very essence of being, converting culture and its artistic expressions into criticism and rebellion acts. In this sense, the artist Ryan Oduber shows in the work “Transgeneración”, two boats joined together with a rope or cord and covered by picturesque “chinchorros” (hammocks) from the Wayuu ethnic group, belonging to the Anahuac family; In the work, the artist recreates the ancestry of our indigenous and their roots anchored in the Caribbean, also the people wrecked dreams. The two boats are tied sailing in their tasks, their labors, their dreams, but in the turbulence or during the crisis they can, if they decide so, separate by releasing the knot that ties them; This symbolizes some societies problems, during the turbulence the people in the boats are in danger, the shipwreck of a boat can cause the collapse of the other one, creating chain reactions that affect our people or to neighboring villages. For thousands of years our indigenous have gone out in the early morning to till the land and sail the sea waters, teaching their children the trades, assisted by the phrase “look how I do it”; at night, and lying in the “chinchorros” (hammocks) complement the transmission of wisdom, reaffirming what has been learned during the day to rest after that, taking refuge in the safety of their beds to repair the body strength and mind, where their dreams obey intuition in the revelation of the future. By her part, Osaira Muyale is inspired by the iconic Plaza Antillana (Antillana square) from La Vela de Coro, where it is, looking towards Aruba and Curaçao, the sculpture “Mujer Holandesa” (Dutch Woman), dressed in a Vollendame suit and klompen (well-known wooden shoes in Hispano-America as “Suecos”), holds in its arms a tulips bouquet representing the Netherlands wealth. Originally on the pedestal rested small replicas of the Caribbean islands of Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire, which were removed in an act of unconsciousness. On its side is the old customs building, whose structure is strongly marked by Dutch architectural currents of the 18th and 19th century. This square was financed by the Netherlands government at the end of the 60s as a tribute to the turbulent relations existing between Venezuela, formerly Hispanic colony, and the Kingdom of Netherlands present in the extinct Netherlands Antilles. Even though this sculpture is loaded with meaning symbolism, it is notorious the little documentation existing around this place, the sculptor anonymity and the population disinterest in terms of historical and artistic representation. This leads us to infer that the “Mujer Holandesa” (Dutch Woman) is really a tribute to non official relationships, that is, illicit commercial relationships that join us in everyday life, so this monument is an important silent witness of history, but at the same time is relegated in the memories of the people. In the work, Muyale focuses on the sculpture replica “Mujer Holandesa” (Dutch Woman), projected in intense blue that resembles the Caribbean Sea heart, from the klompen starts a spiral that covers a large part of the installation, touching, in the background, the expanded reproduction of La Vela de Coro customs building. In the spiral essence, the artist manages to combine two aspects of great social and personal relevance; on one hand, historical irreverence, revealing the need to analyze centuries of history hidden in the bowels of government, which mutilate the historical memories of our societies; on the other hand, the origin of his Dutch and Lebanese family, his ancestors pilgrimage through the Caribbean, and the passion of his father for the memorable breeding of horses in Aruba. Meanwhile, Glenda Heyliger shows three bicycles connected to several first aid kits, in which when pedaling it generates enough energy to light four bulbs that represent the urgent need to recover human sensitivity, the help between humans, the mutual cooperation and respect for life that has been so transgressed. In the same way, the work “Soy Sal” generates great commotion when observing in the ground a small hill of salt where several crosses are nailed, representing the passage of slaves, men, women and children ripped from their African world and marketed by Holland centuries ago, brought to the Caribbean lands where most of them died and others managed to live, contributing to forge with their foreheads sweat and the blood of their backs our diverse culture. Elvis López shows us the virgin Mary with bandaged wounds, hurt by our actions, our indifference, our indolence; she is standing on several white garbage bags that simulate the unity between the sea and the land as a same space without borders that is contaminated by human abuses; from the ceiling hang several objects that simulate clouds trying to heal the wounds of the virgin and our mental, sentimental, corporal wounds. Next to it there is a mural full of faces without names, next to a supermarket cart full of clouds that represent the effort of people to achieve their goals, but they do not achieve them because of the conditions imposed by the world market system, understood as social, economic, political, racial, religious and metal crises, not far from our realities. Apart from the limitations and political-administrative legislations, the Caribbean and its people have been thought and rethought over the centuries, without being able to understand that the space is articulated by human actions and not by governmental impositions. In this lies the relevance of these works, whose main contribution is to reveal the Caribbean historical problem, by manifesting the critical and hidden fragments of our processes; In the same way, the concept and essence of the works transcend the past towards the current situations of our peoples, influencing the actions, expressions and representations of artists that seek to make sense of their own identities. BibliographyRerfrencias. BRICEÑO, Mario (1965). Instrucción General y Particular del estado Presente de la Provincia de Venezuela en los años de 1720 y 1721. Academia Nacional de la Historia. Caracas – Venezuela.  GONZÁLEZ, Carlos (1997). Documentos para la Historia de las antillas Neerlandesas. Universidad Nacional Experimental Francisco de Miranda. Coro- Venezuela.  MORENO, Josefina; TARAZIONA, Alberto (1984). Materiales para el estudio de las Relaciones Inter-Étnicas en la Guajira, siglo XVIII. Academia Nacional de la Historia. Caracas – Venezuela. Nectario María (1959). Los Orígenes de Maracaibo. Universidad del Zulia. Maracaibo-Venezuela. Nectario María (1967). Fundación de Nueva Segovia de Barquisimeto. Gobernación del estado Lara. Segunda Edición. Madrid – España. OQUENDO, Hebe (2001). Respuesta de los Holandeses y Contrabandistas Criollos en Oposición a la Guipuzcoana (1731-1732). Mañongo. Nº 17. Pp. 267 – 288. Valencia – Venezuela. PUIGGRÓS, Rodolfo (2005). La España que Conquistó el Nuevo Mundo. Editorial Altamira. Tercera Edición. Buenos Aires – Argentina. RAMOS, Demetrio (1978) La Fundación de Venezuela Ampies y Coro: Una Singularidad Histórica. Universidad de Valladolid. Valladolid – España. SANOJA, Mario (2011). Historia Sociocultural de la Economía Venezolana. Banco Central de Venezuela. Caracas – Venezuela. SANOJA, Mario (2013). El Alba de la Sociedad Venezolana. Colección Clásicos de la Arqueología Venezolana. Caracas – Venezuela. VÁZQUEZ, Belin (1986). “El Puerto de Maracaibo: Elemento Estructurante del Espacio Social Marabino”. Cuaderno de Historia. No 14. Universidad del Zulia. Maracaibo – Venezuela.

 

2018 2017. Bleau garden. Solo exposition. A dialogue on  historical and contemporary narratives. The Bleau Garden’ installed at B.v/d Veen Zeppenfeld straat 6, San Nicolas. This artwork  installation took place parallel with the Aruba art fair event during the 16th until the 18th of September 2016. This installation spoke about the sense of familiar, informal exchange of ideas, heart to heart conversations on everyday‘s life, cultural boundaries, passionate spirituality, unfamiliar cultural borders and a complex historical Caribbean community. The story represented a family and their children that immigrated from Dominica in 1850, Mr.and Mrs. John Bleau and Clemant Bleau Noel parents of Mr. Augustin Bleau (6.6.1909 -17.4.1983) married to Mrs Pamelia Abrahams (18.7.1922-17.7.1962). Daughter Lilian Blue (17.7.1962). Mr.Augustin Bleau left Dominica during 1923, as a young boy of 14. He traveled for a new future and immigrated in Aruba as a British citizen. Mr.Bleau, a man of not many words with an entrepreneurial culture, with a positive and progressive spirit, thinking big and reading Time magazine, soon made financial risk in hope of profits buying a building on B. v/d Veen Zeppenfeldstraat 6 in the centrum of San Nicolas, Aruba. Mr.Augustin Bleau was self made business man. His moto was “e pais cu ta dunabo di come b mester repete” You should respect the country who provides you with food . 

 

(2016-2017). Invitation of FMA-(fundacion muceo Arubano), Community Museum Aruba and art curator Renwick Heronimo.
Artwork San Nicolas- Saint Nicolas. Research on a Saint of sailors, children and researchers. Sculpture ‘San Nicolas’- Saint Nicolas. A Saint that transmutes experience into believes, human nature into stories. A Saint that speaks of the invisible and the voiceless A name that takes care of each other word and sound. Human nature is in conversation with  time. Recollection of the past, the present and future dreams. What experience or knowledge is stored in a long-term memory can be recalled. Memories are narratives and pictures in the mind and forms a declarative echo. Art has the ability to bend, angle, flex, curve, hook, loop shift, tack, turn twist, time. Slow it down and wander through it.  That is precisely why Art provides a framework within which we can look at time. Time is something of daily impressions. looking at a clock, masterly imposing our lives, pushing forward and tracking collectively, running to a clock, marking what to do and what it exactly makes us escape. Everything rotates around time. Think about how time is a mirror of being.  There was a time without time. There was only one way where one watched time trough nature. The sun coming up every day and going down again, the season changes, the plants growing. This rhythm is increasingly framed and named. A system established in words, terms and standards.  The system of years, days, seconds, clocks and calendars is not time. For the clock may say that only 7even minutes have passed and the truth is that 200 years have gone by. Dushi pa sinta den un mondi di dulcura schuchando cancionan di silencio blaachinan conversando di luz den un brisa di perfume di fruta mi amigo eterno banda mi semper naturalesa lo dicidi e salto pa lama of cielo defini. Esta dushi tempo sirbi. San Nicolaas is an industrial city near the ocean. It was a  bustling company town, when Lago Oil and Transport Company opened its oil refinery in 1924 until 1985. In 1991 Coastal Corporation reopened the oil refinery until 1995. Valero in 2010 and Citco in 2017. San Nicolaas was named after Mr. Nicolas van der Biest (1808–1873), who owned a big piece of the land there. Landowners were then addressed by their subordinates by their first names preceded by ‘Shon’ meaning ‘master’. So he was called ‘Shon Nicolas’, as was the area. It is thought that the change from Shon Nicolas to San Nicolaas was due to the influence of Spanish. (refr.Dr. J Hartog, Aruba’s historian and Aruba Tourism Authority).Saint Nicolas life’s story, the church of San Nicolò al Lido(Venice), hosts half of Nicolas’ relics.On 26 August 1071 Romanus IV, Emperor of the Byzantine Empire (reigned 1068–1071), faced Sultan Alp Arslan of the Seljuk Turks (reigned 1059–1072) in the  Battle of Manzikert. The battle ended in humiliating defeat and capture for Romanus. As a result, the Empire temporarily lost control over most of Asia Minor to the invading Seljuk Turks. The Byzantines would regain its control over Asia Minor during the reign of  Alexius I Comnenus (reigned 1081–1118). But early in his reign Myra was overtaken by the Turks. Nicholas’ tomb in Myra had become a popular place of pilgrimage. Because of the many wars and attacks in the region, some Christians were concerned that access to the tomb might become difficult. For both the religious and commercial advantages of a major pilgrimage site, the Italian cities of Venice and Bari vied to get the Nicholas relics.[3] Taking advantage of the confusion, in the spring of 1087, sailors from Bari in Apulia seized part of the remains of the saint from hisburial church in Myra, over the objections of the Greek Orthodox monks. Returning to Bari, they brought the remains with them and cared for them. The remains arrived on 9 May 1087. There are numerous variations of this account. In some versions those taking the relics are characterized as thieves or pirates, in others they are said to have taken them in response to avision wherein Saint Nicholas himself appeared and commanded that his relics be moved in order to preserve them from the impending Muslim conquest. Currently at Bari, there are two churches at his shrine, one Roman Catholic and one Orthodox.Sailors from Bari collected just half of Nicholas’ skeleton, leaving all the minor fragments in the grave. These were collected by Venetian sailors during the first crusade and brought to Venice, where a church to St. Nicholas, the patron of sailors, was built on the Lido. This tradition was confirmed in two scientific investigations of the relics in Bari and Venice, which revealed that the relics in the two cities belong to the same skeleton. Many churches in Europe, Russia and the United States claim to possess small relics, such as a tooth or a fingers.

 

(2015.3015). Paarden baai. ‘Horse Bay’. Blue Horses. Art in public space, centrum of Oranjestad, Aruba. This name arrives from the Aruban and European trade commerce and economy in the 1700 Century. Aruba and Holland were into cattle exchange. Especially in horses trading. The Arubans bought their horses at the coast of Venezuela and Colombia together with the one hundred Indians that still lived near Forti Abow (where the peer of Paarden baai is now).The horses had enough space to live and gallop in the ranches (Ranchos) for their multiplication. International Horse export started in 1800 century and was one of the most important sources of livelihood for Aruba especially to the sugar countries. A Horse is by far one of the largest contributor to the enhancement of civilization. The 8 Sculptures represents strengths ‘nobility, grace, beauty and freedom. It represents Aruban collaboration with locals and international communities and its business trade world. Europe, South America, Caribbean islands and the Mediterranean. The Blue horses represents the important historical moment where the horses jumped from the ship deck into the Caribbean Ocean and swim to our Aruban Bay ‘Paarden baai’. This work is based on the story of  book‘travels in west indies’ (1829-1836), A trip to Aruba about 1825, on page 113 of the 2nd volume by Ds.G.B. Bosch. This project is subsidized by National and International foundations and prestigious private institutions. ATA, TEPF, Mondriaan Fund, Unoca, PBCFCG, GenAir, FE.

2015. Paardenbaai Blue Horses. Oranjestad, Aruba. ‘Horse Bay”. The theme of the Art work is a Tribute to ‘Paardenbaai’ (Horses Bay) Art in Public Space contributes to Culture, preserves historical and contemporary history of Community, Infrastructure, commerce, and local identity. We all share with the Tourists our appreciation and respect to this Development. It joins for a common purpose and a common action to the New down town Project. This name arrives from the Aruban and European trade commerce and economy in the 1700 Century.  Aruba and Holland were into cattle exchange. Especially in horses trading. The Arubans bought their horses at the coast of Venezuela and Colombia together with the one hundred Indians that still lived near Forti Abow (where the bay of Paarden baai is now). The horses had enough space to live and gallop in the ranches (Ranchos) for their multiplication. International Horse export started in 1800 century and was one of the most important sources of livelihood for Aruba especially to the sugar countries. A Horse is by far one of the largest contributor to the enhancement of civilization. The 8 Sculptures represents strengths ‘Nobility, Grace, Beauty and Freedom. It represents Aruban collaboration with locals and international communities and its business trade world. Europe, South America, Caribbean islands and the Mediterranean. The Blue horses represents the important historical moment where the horses jumped from the ship deck into the Caribbean Ocean and swim to our Aruban Bay ‘Paarden baai’.  At 6 strategic points – Down Town Oranjestad, there will be a horses installed. It will take 6 months to complete the whole project. With their different personalities and postures you can still see a united family. References: Biblioteca National Aruba, Hartoch. J . Aruba zoals het was en zoals het werd Hartoch .J. 1960, Het oude Fort van Aruba Willem. P. 1950-1960. De Nederlandse Antillen, A. H and Iglesia protestant Aruba in oude ansichten, Een reisje naar Aruba Dominee Bosch. Paardenbaai embodies an important part of the early history of Oranjestad; the natural harbor facilitated horse trade that dates back to the early days of Spanish colonization of Aruba. This trade in livestock and primarily horses was one of the key factors in the early development of commerce and later settlement of the town at the bay. During the following three centuries, the horse trade remained important for the island: for the Spanish period during conquest (1500’s), and later for the Dutch under the West Indian Company rule (1600’s and 1700’s) Aruba remained as what could be considered a ranch that facilitated the colonization projects. In the early Dutch Colonial period (1800’s & 1900’s) this role diminished and a shift to other industries and small scale farming became more important. Thus for over four centuries a great variety of livestock (primarily horses) was kept on the island where it remained accessible and could easily be transported to other destinations. Historic accounts relate that at times the herds would count up to thousands of horses, roaming the island. Testament to the foundational importance of this period is the simple fact that from this period onward and to this day, almost two hundred years after the official re-naming of Playa Caballos to Oranjestad (1824), the town at the bay is still referred to as Playa and its residents are still known as Playeros, in the local language Papiamento. The importance of the Caribbean Sea and the Horse Bay is also evident in the symbolic blue color of the horses, serving as a reminder of their voyage to and from the island. A deep blue color that still bathes their skin as if they seemingly just emerged from the bay pacing forward into town confronting us with the rich identity of our past. – Renwick Heronimo art curator. 2015 (22.01.)/Mondriaan Fonds Gehonoreerde plannen Bijdrage Opdrachtgeverschap. Fundacion Eterno( Oranjestad)- Playa caballos- Fundacion Eterno den de lokale overheid op Aruba geven opdrachten aan Kunstenaar Osaira Muyale. Muyale realiseert de installatie ‘Playa Caballos’ (Paardenbaai), bestaande uit een route van blauw gekleurde paardsculpturen vanaf het strand waar vanaf 1700 paarden arriveerden op het eiland voor de handelnaar de historische centyrum van Oranjestad. www.mondriaanfonds.nl/gehonoreerd/gehonoreerde-plannen-bijdrage-opdrachtgeverschap/.   

2015 Paradise Park. Is an extension of the Blue Horses (2011-2014). Paradise Park is a installation space of 9 meter x 10 meter x 2.70 meters. Eleven sculptures of 1-2 meters x 80cm. 2meters x 60cm x 1.50.meters. Paradie Park is a space falling in time, sea, ocean, life and love. Paradise Park is a dream-state, a transcendental space in between the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. Connected to a hybrid globalized subject. Influenced on immigrants, heritage, and storytelling. At the same time, an allegory presenting cultural memories. The installation is inhabit with sculptures, crossing between horses, birds, fishes, plants, and human beings. Paradise Park archives metaphors that effects life, associated within a natural world, human associations with bird resemblance. Species such as rotating flora and floating fauna crossing in a solemn sound by vangelis  -la petite fille de la Mer. Crossings of fiber sculptures surrounded with a character called Sikkepit. A space that unites anecdotes in deep sea water. A fantasy park where paradise energy settles time between continents, specifying a cultural and a visual language. My fascination with birds is seen in floating work of  Japanese Nightingale. A  sculpture mirroring  an inter familial hybrid, where the plants are sensitive and vulnerable and its leaves reaching out above the viewer, at the same time bordering arrangements. The Japanese nightingale is a bird that stretches, pitch and strain like a floor. The exhibition highlights the senses that address the notion of time and space and a relationship between the body, soul, and the material world. –Osaira Muyale.  Blue Horses. Crossing in between the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean sea. This installation is a research based on my family tree and descendants. The installation is installed at my studio, Oranjestad Aruba since 2014. Project Paarden baai’(2014-2015) is an extension of the installation Paradise Park’ The project is subsidized by GenAir, Mondriaan Fonds (2011), Unoca, FE. Artwork installation ParadisePark – mixed media, variable dimensions. (2023.2015). plaster, blue acrylic, plastic plants, paper flowers, coconut, chicken wire, cloned and original mannequins body parts.  Installation space: 9 meter x 10 meter x 2.70 meters. Eleven sculptures of 1-2 meters x 80cm. 2meters x 60cm x 1.50.meters. Blue horses. Studio Osaira Muyale stadionweg 23, Oranjestad Aruba.

 

2015. Paradise Park. Text by art curator Renwick Heronimo. Once upon a time there was a magical place…a place where one could set the imagination free and relive the feelings locked in moments past…there we find ourselves… waiting patiently by the sea, listening… and peering into the blue shimmer…here we are… awaiting to catch a glimpse of the wonderful character once more…filled with love we patiently listen to learn of his magical endeavors across the river. Name. A park is a space where play is placed central in its success as a functioning space…a space where fantasy, emotion and imagination can be stimulated to enhance the experience of the everyday. A space of infinite possibilities that is promised as paradise…that mythical place where timeless harmony is offered—the Garden of Eden before the fall from grace—that place where humanity had the opportunity to be in perfect harmony with the world. GateAs we cross the gate we enter into a place where the imagination has given shape and color to a place of wonder detached from the banality and logic of the everyday. Each level of penetration into this space accentuating the separation from the monotony of the everyday experience devoid of wonder and excitement, into a reality replenished with possibilities and new meaning. Door.Here we find ourselves at a door, full of excitement we wait to enter in to the interior space with a sense of adventure and trepidation. Blindfolded we enter…and surrender. InteriorIt is once inside this space that the magnitude of this project reveals itself. This remarkable work by the artist Osaira Muyale allows the spectator to enter into a space where beauty, magic, emotion, and melancholy can be experienced. It is inside the rooms of this house called Paradise Park that one encounters this powerful sensorial experience. As one walks through these white spaces flooded with the ephemeral blue light figures appear that seem to be moving to an eternal rhythm. All of these figures are hybrids consisting of human as well as plant elements and are all colored blue…a deep blue hinting at the depths of the soul. This surprising experience is overwhelming in its layered effect where space, color, figures, movement and music are caught in an endless dance inviting us deeper into this house and deeper into the meaning of this work With Paradise Park the spectator is able to surrender to the beauty and magic of this place and allow the imagination and emotion to free itself of the constraints of reason and logic that seem to rule the everyday. Idea.Paradise Park offers one the opportunity to submerge oneself into the realm of the senses…where the subconscious mind is activated in order to decipher the stories and narratives that have manifested themselves within this space…a space so intimate in its conception that one feels as if it is within the mind, body and soul of this artist that one finds oneself. A space of reflection, a space of being, a space of believing and a space of feeling…Dance In Paradise Park we are able to be immersed in an experience that allows one to release the soul and partake in this dance of melancholy… floating as it were through this magical space where  our senses are activated to resurrect our feeling of beauty, memory, intuition, fantasy and emotions.  The art of Osaira Muyale. To understand the visual language of Muyale one must revisit some of her significant previous works. For example, it was with Mystery of The Soul that her visual language crystalized. The clarity with which she appropriated objets du Coeur from family collections to construct a narrative that was at once engaging as well as enigmatic. It was also during this solo exhibition at Eterno Studio Gallery in 1995, that the domestic attributes such as step ladders, picture frames, dolls, lamp posts, and linoleum flooring were appropriated to convey messages of domestic entrapment. It was this growing desperation and confrontation with the breakdown of communication that resulted in one of her most powerful multimedia installation, Silencio (Silence) at the Habana Biannual in 1997. Here she created a claustrophobic scene where hundreds of plaster cast ears were laid out on a metal bed frame and used to delineate the words “I am afraid” on the walls and were juxtaposed with a web of hair like threads reminiscent of cobwebs suspended from cattle hooks. To accentuate this apocalyptic scene installed inside one of the prison cells at the Castillo Del Moro fortification in Habana, a video was shown on a television monitor showing the artist struggling to catch her breath… A couple of years later this cycle of works reached its culmination with her highly personal multimedia installation iIlusion that was awarded with the grand price at the Dutch Caribbean contemporary art survey exhibition Arte 99 in Willemstad Curacao. With this striking installation the spectator is invited to enter into a space defined by a monumental wedding dress suspended on a metal carcass. To enter one had to step on and over the artist’s wedding pictures. Once inside one could see a video on a tv monitor suspended in the heart of this carcass, showing the artist falling out of the sky into a desolate landscape wearing a wedding dress. One can later see her walking outwards from a spiral installation, consisting of plaster cast ears and populated by family mementos and domestic articles, into the desolate landscape… A few years later it was the encounter with a water basin covered with natural overgrowth that triggered another performance and installation. It was at the history laden Kenepa Plantation in Curacao that triggered her imagination during the Watamula international artist workshop in the year 2000. Here the slave history of this indigo plantation as well as the encounter with this water basin resulted in a performance of ritualistic bathing with the indigo blue colored water of the basin. This installation was later installed at another plantation, namely Landhuis Bloemhof, in the bath house located in the middle of nature, and where the color blue (indigo) and water became an essential element indicative in this case of cleansing of traumatic history. The color blue had from this point on become a central and recurring component within the work of Muyale. Kindred Spirits But it is not only through the analysis of her work that we can get a better understanding of this artist. When we look into the work of some seminal artists that have had a definitive role within the history of art we can also find some kindred spirits that give us insights into her narrative. One of the recurring elements that can be seen throughout her work is the influence by the Surrealist Movement. Especially the resonance with the work of female Surrealist artists such as, Remedios Varo and Dorothea Tanning is remarkable. With the work of Varo, it is the enigmatic visual language as well as the architectural spaces laden with psychological charge that seem to relate. And in the case of Tanning, it is the highly personal narrative and surrealist imagery that seem to relate. In Tanning’s own words we learn that “art has always been the raft onto which we climb to save our sanity”. But looking onward into the Modern and Postmodern movements we can also finds artist that resonate with Muyale. One of these is Louise Bourgeois, where we encounter a highly personal narrative and imagery tainted by family history and its profound implications on the psyche. And with the work of Kiki Smith, we encounter ideas of identity and the body as well as, physicality and mortality presented with a highly personal visual language incorporating flora and fauna/ human and animal, hybrid forms transformed by the imagination. But it is the color blue and the “Space within” that draws our attention to another remarkable artist, in this case a Flemish male artist Jan Faber, whose ideas of spatial atmosphere and quietude, as well as, the symbiosis between work and location achieved by this versatile artist resonates with Paradise ParkConclusion .Throughout human history, art has had a fundamental role when dealing with the mysterious aspects of human experience. And it is through the release achieved by the creative process and the trans formative power of art that we are able to give meaning to human existence. With Paradise park the artist Osaira Muyale,  has confronted us with a haptic space that allows one to experience the subtle simplicity as well as the striking richness possible with human experience…all one has to do is enter. Book subsidized by Unoca, PBCFCG, GenAir, FE.

2014 (April 18 – September 17) Caribbean Crossroads of the World PAMM Perez Art museum Miami ,1103 Biscayne Blvd. Museo Del Barrio, Manhattan Fifth ave, New York Project Caribbean Crossroads of  the World. Artwork ‘Abo ta Ami’. Curated by Elvis Fuentes and Susy del Valle and Renwick Heronimo. www.caribbeancrossroads.org Invitation by Tobias Ostrander Chief Curator and Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs Following credit line-Curatorial Team Maria Elena Ortiz Curatorial Assistant, Elvis Fuentes Programmer Curator  Crossroads Project, Oriol Tarridas Photography, installation view photo by Orial Tarridas, Naomi Patterson, logistics outsourcing from Washington to Miami. Cultural Identity, Patriot Acts studies the idea that artists and intellectuals in the Caribbean were instrumental in the creation of  identity, both visual and conceptual, of the young Caribbean nations, which often pitted traditional, academic aesthetics against the “authentic,” indigenous and African past of the region.

2014 (3- 2013.9)  Twee honderd Jaar  TROPISCH KONINKRIJK. Museum de Fundatie presenteert vanaf december 2013 in zijn vestiging in Zwolle, Paleis aan de Blijmarkt, de tentoonstelling ‘Tropisch Koninkrijk’. Deze expositie, georganiseerd naar aanleiding van de viering ‘200 JAAR KONINKRIJK’ geeft een overzicht van de actuele beeldende kunst van de zes Caribische eilanden die tot het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden behoren: Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, St.Maarten, Saba en Sint Eustatius. ‘Tropisch Koninkrijk’ beslaat een groot gedeelte van het Paleis aan de Blijmarkt, dat momenteel gesloten is in verband met een markante uitbreiding en zal worden heropend in mei 2013. Naast de gehele nieuwbouw (twee keer 400 m²), die momenteel op het dak van het neo-klassieke gebouw verrijst, zijn verschillende zalen van de  19de-eeuwse ‘oudbouw’ voor ‘Tropisch Koninkrijk’ gereserveerd. Het wordt de tweede grote expositie die te zien is in het heropende museum in de Zwolse binnenstad.  Gastconservator van ‘Tropisch Koninkrijk’ is de kunsthistoricus en publicist Maarten Jager. Hij brengt op dit overzicht de laatste ontwikkelingen op kunstgebied uit de Caribische gebiedsdelen van het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden onder de aandacht. De meest representatieve vertegenwoordigers van de verschillende kunstdisciplines zijn op de expositie vertegenwoordigd. Het gaat om   internationaal georiënteerde Caribische, multiculturele schilder- en beeldhouwkunst, video, film, fotografie, keramiek en conceptuele kunst waaronder installaties. Hun kunst wordt met name in het Caribisch gebied zelf en in Midden-Amerika getoond, met name op de internationale biënnales van Santo Domingo en Cuba. Terwijl de expressieve kunst uit het Caribisch gebied veelal het lokale overstijgt, speelt de zoektocht  van de bewoners naar de eigen identiteit een belangrijke rol in hun kunst. Voor de hand ligt de Afrikaanse en Indiaanse erfenis van de Caribische kunstenaars. Daarnaast manifesteert zich binnen de mix van culturen de invloed van Europa, Midden-Amerika en zelfs die van het Nabije Oosten, want in het bijzonder kunstenaars op Aruba hebben Libanese voorouders. Naast de diaspora, zijn de geschiedenis van de eilanden, mythen en gebruiken, religie en de huidige sociaal-politieke situatie belangrijke thema’s in de kunst van de Cariben. De 19 kunstenaars op ‘Tropisch koninkrijk’ gebruiken de meest uiteenlopende materialen. Van traditionele ’dragers’ als verf en brons tot sumpiñas (doornenstruiken), plastic afval en ander afgedankt materiaal. Een aantal kunstenaars is in het Nederlandse museale circuit inmiddels bekend, onder wie Yubi Kirindongo. Hij nam vorig jaar deel aan de internationale beeldenroute ‘ArtZuid’ in Amsterdam. Een overzicht van het werk van David Bade was in 2010 te zien in het museum voor actuele kunst GEM (Den Haag). Van zijn hand is ook de metershoge sculptuur van een ridder, getiteld ‘Ins Blaue’, die in september 2012 een plaats kreeg in de beeldentuin van Kasteel het Nijenhuis in Heino. Dit najaar nemen verschillende prominente Curaçaoenaars en Arubanen deel aan de tentoonstelling ‘Caribbean: Crossroads of the World’  in New York. Middels 500 kunstwerken wordt vier eeuwen Caribische kunst belicht. Aan deze expositie in El Museo del Barrio, het Queens Museum of Art en het Studio Museum ging tien jaar onderzoek vooraf. ‘PK  Paarden Kracht  – HP Horse Power Als de verbinding sterk is, slaan de motoren aan en begint de vlieg te draaien. Paarden kracht  is een tentoonstelling die een modern  onderzoek beleeft  op het gebied van kunst en in kader van  een historisch moment. Een vereniging  waar Holland en Aruba  een ontmoeting plaatsen doormiddel van een hernieuwbare energie ‘ Paarden. Arubanen en Nederlanders handelden met paarden vanaf de 1700 eeuw,geleidelijk er meer immigranten zich vestigden  op het eiland, waaronder ook Oost-Europese Joden en Libanezen. Zij hadden de eerste particuliere ondernemingen in Aruba. Het werdt voorgesteld als een visuele reis door een variëteit van fantasierijke  werelden gecreëerd op creativiteit en expressieve  talen.Een hybridisatie – een kruising van kennis en openstellen  van productieve voorwaarden , overeenkomsten , medeleven en passie van kennis, concurrentievermogen, culturele innovatie en  efficiëntie bevordering. Het onderwerp van het werk  is een eerbetoon aan de ‘Paardenbaai’ Oranjestad Aruba ,waar de burger en de sociale koophandelaars hun  werelden begonnen.Het was een omarming  van Paarden  geest en energie  die zijn edele en kostbare  kracht en vrijheid  spreekt bij  een groot bijdragen en aan een  versterking van samenwerking  en een hybride  culturele beschaving .Het werk  wil met het publiek een reis maken door culturele contexten ,historische relaties en vooruitzichten. De PK werd geboren uit de allure van mijn prive-leven en studio.De instalatie bestaat uit een ruimte voorzien van kunstwerken, in de vorm van object trouve ‘, videowerk, fotografie ,sculpture en text met  inspiratie over persoonlijk en historisch vastgestelde  boeiende  verhalen . Aruba is een eiland met een rijke geschiedenis, bewoond door archeologische resten en architectonische monumenten. De ideale plek voor het onderzoeken van de relatie tussen erfgoed en het geheugen. Video -landschap inventaris, loop / verzameling digitale beelden 2002/2013,correctie en desoriëntatie. Object trouve ‘- Paradijs park, verzameling  1995-2013, opgeslagen erfgoed fotografie-kruispuzzel  , Een hybridisatie – een kruising van kennis en openstellen  van productieve voorwaarden , overeenkomsten , medeleven en passie van kennis, concurrentievermogen, culturele innovatie en  efficiëntie bevordering. sculptuur / hybride collectie – Cabai blauw, life size objet trouve ‘. Paarden kracht onderzoek beleeft  op het gebied van kunst en in kader van  een historisch moment. Een vereniging  waar Holland en Aruba  een ontmoeting plaatsen doormiddel van een hernieuwbare energie. Subsidized by Unoca, FE, PBCFCG, Mondriaan fund.

 

2012  Im not white, not black, but blue. Encuentro Biennale Aruba. Installation at Free Zone Aruba. Art curator Dr. Jose Manuel Noceda Fernandez.       Title: I m not white, not black, but blue Concept: Hybrid identity in post colonial Time 1. Titulo; min ta blanco, ni preto, pero blauw (papiamento) 2. Titel; ben niet wit, niet zwart maar blauw (dutch) 3. Titulo; no soy blanco, ni negro ,pero azul (espanol) 4. Title; I am not white, not black, but blue (english) 5. العنوان، لا أبيض، أسود  r، ولكن الزرقاء (arabic) 1. Contepto; Identidad hibrida,cu ken bo ta identifica bo mes? 2. Concept; Hybride identiteiten, ‘Wie vertegenwoordigt u eigenlijk?’ 3. Concepto; Identidades híbridas, “¿Quién te identificas más?” 4. Concept; Hybrid identities, “Who represents you?” 5.المفهوم: الهويات الهجين “الذي يمثل لك؟5” 1. Kiko ta indentidad?, e ta algo indefini y por ta crea confusion;e por ta un hancra,pero tambe un bruhamento.identidad ta algo dificil pa alcansa. 2. Wat is identiteit?, Het is on definieerbaar en kan verwarring scheppen; ze kan een houvast zijn, maar ook vervreemding betekenen. Identiteit is een ongrijpbaar iets. 3. ¿Qué es la identidad?, Es indefinible y puede ser confuso, pueden ser un faro, pero también significa la alienación. La identidad es algo difícil de alcanzar . 4. What is identity?, It is indefinable and can be confusing, they can be a beacon, but also alienation mean. Identity is an elusive something. 5.ما هو الهوية؟ أنها لا يمكن تعريفها ويمكن أن يكون مربكا، فإنها يمكن أن تكون منارة، ولكن يعني أيضا التغريب. الهوية.ي .يء بعيد المنال In the 19th century the word Hybrid was used to refer to a physiological phenomenon, is reactivated in the 20th century to describe a cultural one. The 1828 Webster defined a hybrid as ‘a mongrel or mule; an animal or plant produced from the mixture of two species’. It is only in the 1861 edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) that it is first used to denote the crossing of people of different ‘cultures’, thus marking the acceptance of the possibility of human hybrids. This journey of my life, been born in Aruba, Dutch Caribbean with mixed cultures and heritage. Wondering for an identity. Does an identity exist ? The question is, if i realize my identity will i be happy, shall the world be happier.What is happiness ? The 19th /20th century debate on  hybridism is a central issue of debate in the social sciences today. The term ‘hybrid’ mixed cultures,was applied from botany to anthropology and was associated with both political and scientific speculations on ‘races’ as species or subspecies. The acknowledgment of the common humanity of all ‘races’ strengthened the separation between culture and nature as part and parcel of the project of Modernity. Been searching on identity for a while and my recent work ‘hybrid identity ‘I am not white, not black, but blue’, relates from a Post Colonial background. Living through the different years 1940.2020. New century 1210 and till today 2012. Been born in Aruba and lived my whole life here.While traveling allot especially for my work while growing up in between Cultural gabs.With a mixed complex background of  speaking and being Aruban, Dutch, Lebanese. Speaking Spanish, Papiamento, English and Dutch. Searching common ground. Always searching for my identity, with a co-result of understanding hope, happiness ,love, trust and peace. – a mix of ‘blood’ and culture.  The Post-colonial theory addresses the matters of post-colonial identity (cultural, national, ethnic), gender, race, and racism, and their interactions in the development of a post-colonial society, and of a post-colonial national identity; of how a colonized people (cultural) knowledge was used against them, in service of the colonizer’s interests and of how knowledge about the world is generated under specific socio-economic relations, between the powerful and the powerless. Identity politics comprise the perspectives of the colonial subjects, his and her creative resistance to the colonizer’s culture and how that resistance psychologically complicated the imperial-colony project for the Dutch Caribbean/ European man and woman. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybridity In my recent work there will be no common forms and no identity. A production of  humans, plants and animals together as one. Time and Memory is in charge of  the space. om Hybris and monsters by Miguel Vale de Almeida, ‘longing for one self Hybridism and Miscegenation colonial and postcolonial Portugal and more. The Dicionário Moraes of 1891 refers to hybrido as originating in the Greek hybris, defined as ‘an animal generated by two species. Irregular, anomalous, monstrous’. Hybridação is the ‘production of  hybrid plants or animals’ and hybridez is the ‘quality (…) of that which is composed of two different species in grammar it is used to refer to ‘words compounded from two different languages’. The same dictionary does not have an entry for miscigenação, but it does for mestiço, from the Latin mixtus, defined as ‘that which proceeds from parents of different race or species: e.g. among men (sic) the mulato, the cafusa, etc.; among animals, the mule etc. It is also used to refer to some grafted plants, e.g. rosas mestiças’. In the Dicionário Etimológico da Língua Portuguesa (1977 [1952]), we learn that the Greek root hybris defines ‘excess, all that exceeds measure; pride, insolence; excessive ardor, impetuousness, exaltation; outrage, insult, offence; violence over woman or child; via the Latin hybrida to designate the product of the crossing between the sow and the wild boar; the child of parents from different regions or conditions, probably via the French hybride.’ In the same dictionary one can already find an entry for miscigenação, ‘from the English miscegenation, which came from the Latin miscere, ‘to mix’ + genus, ‘race’.After 1960 miscigenar is said to mean simultaneously ‘to procreate hybrids’and ‘to procreate mestiços’. Mestiço is said to come from the Castillian mistizo,which comes from the Late Latin mixticiu. As a complement to this list of definitions, we can also find that the word mulato comes from ‘…mulo (male ‘Longing for Oneself’ 183 mule) + –ato (as in cervato, lobato)’. According to literary examples used in the entry, one can infer (although not prove) that it is in the 1500s – the ‘Age of Discoveries’ – that the animal reference is replaced by a human one.If one uses the several entries in the Dicionário de Sinónimos from Porto Editora, a constellation of meanings connecting these different expressions can be traced: Híbrido: ambígeno, anómalo, irregular, mestiço, monstruoso (…) Mestiçagem: hibridismo, mestiçamento, miscigenação (…) Mestiço: bode, caboclo, cabra, carafuzo, cariboca, híbrido, mesclado, misto, mulato (…) Mulato: bode, cabra, cabranaz, cabrito, cabrocha, caporro, escuro, fulo, mestiço, moreno, mu, mulo, pardo, trigueiro (…) Mulata: cabrita, china, mestiça, mista, morocha, mula, trigueira (Dicionário de Sinónimos). Reference: Research on this theme hybridism identity, s.a. theory of Canclini and his work of  and life of Santiago, that he concludes that nationality of Puertorican is fruit of the asendance of Taina+European+African. The Emergence of Hybrid Organizational Forms: Combining Identity-Based Service, Provision and Political Action, Debra C. Minkoff, University of Washington.“From miscegenation to Creole Identity: Portuguese Colonialism, Brazil, Cape Verde”, in Creolization: History, Ethnography, Theory. C. Stewart (ed.), Walnut Creek, CA, Left Coast Press, pp 108-132.2007. Miguel Vale de Almeida, ‘longing for one self Hybridism and Miscegenation colonial and postcolonial Portugal and much more. Contemporary rhetoric (is the art of discourse ) on hybrid  as part of globalization, trans- nationality, postcolonial diasporas, and multiculturalism – clashes with the reality of the return of ‘race’ within a cultural fundamentalism. Miguel Vale de Almeid.

(2012). Salon 2. Flower Castle. Lisse, Netherlands – I never promised you a rose garden. Curated by art curator Gijs Stork and  Angelo Tromp -Art People.

(2012). Love is in the Air – Moving energy Public space installation / Light-text on building Queen Beatrix International Airport Aruba by invitation project AIR ART  by the Aruba Airport Authority (AAA) Queen Beatrix International Airport Aruba. Love is in the Air. Love is the only reflection that produce immediate calmness. As the text of song of Barry White. 

(2010). Salon 1. La Linda and StudiO Oranjestad, Aruba. Curated  by art curator Gijs Stork and  Angelo Tromp-Art People.

(2009). I always thought that every one is the same’- New language Public space installation /neon sign Nepal, Siddhartha Art gallery. Exhibition The Myth and the Reality’ Concept: New language, How many spaces are in between a sentence. How many years does it take to see what you want to listen. 

(2007). I always thought that every one is the same’- New religion Public space installation ‘light text ‘on a building at Studio Beirut- Gemmayzeh-Rue Gouraud Beyruoth Lebanon. Concept- New religion, Light used with a purpose; ‘psycho linguistics’ a free word order language’ psychological and phonological language in public space. Where there is light, certainly there is darkness. What is darkness? Absence of light. 

(2004). ‘Yo siempre pense que cada uno es igual’- Numbers as tools. A public Art  installation, a light text at the 8th Biennial de Cuenca, on the front roof of Banco de Fomento, Ecuador. The concept – Numbers are tools. Humanity’s fascination with numbers is ancient and complex. Our present relationship with numbers reveals both a highly developed tool and a highly developed user, working together to measure, create and predict both ourselves and the world around us.  Teoretica, exposicion ‘iconofagia , Costa Rica Aug –Sept 2007. Photographer: Frederic Lezmi.

2003. 14th international electronic art festival /video  Brasil Associacao Video Brasil”  Brasil, Sao Paulo. Curated Chriz Cozier, Charlotte Elias CCA7.

(2003). V Caribbean Museum of Modern Art Santo Domingo curated by Marianna de Tolentino and Sara Hermann and Elvis Lopez.

(2002-2023) Project God-Dog. God and Dogs are best friends. Titulo, “When I woke up, you were gone”/ film 3 min,  projecto God-doG. Osaira Muyale den conversacion. Mi interes den arte ta solamente arte cu por inspira un ideologia den un sociedad. E ego por ta un obstaculo grandi pa e artista. Esaki ta e morto pa e trabow di e artista. Arte cu tin  solamente valor estetico ta incompleto. Un silencio den e estetica ta crea espacio pa e alma y spirito. Un trabao di arte contemporaneo ta pa inspira y sirbie bida. Pa ta un artista contemporaneo profesional di caliber halto, no ta nada facil, e ta rekeri un bida honesto, pa asina e trabow por carga e energia di e alma y spirito y inspira un lenguahe intelectual visual. Un pais cu no tin un plata forma, un museo di arte por crea consequencia negativo socialmente. E estetica y lenguahe intellectual di e trabow ta importante. Un museo di arte contemporaneo ta  importante den cada pais. Sin un museo di arte moderno y contemporaneo por crea un lenguahe fake, un lenguahe di illution cu por crea un lenguahe agresivo. Un lenguahe basa ariba e ego ta sali di poder y miedo. Arte contemporaneo ta un forma pa inspira humildad atraves di e silencio di e alma cu ta haya luz di dia. E lenguahe visual por comunica e interior y exterior di e ser humano. E misterio di e alma y spirito. Dos palabra cu no ta visibel te ora e wordo expresa visualmente.Un immigrante. Nasi na Aruba, desendiente Lebanes, Hulandes y Spanjo. Batisa katholico. Lanta den un ambiente creativo. Mi tata tawata un architecto y mi bisawelo Hulandes un pintor y escultor. Mi carera a cuminsa cu theather, traha set designs y a bai academia di arte den exterior. Usando pintura, escultura, video, installation, texto y  performance usando mi curpa y ser como e medio di comunicacion den espacionan paden y pafo. Te dia di awe. Si cada individuo kier hiba su ser, su pais y su universo  dilanti, comunica esaki riba un manera honesto y placentero. Un otro cu ta representami mester ta honesto y correcto tambe, sino e ta tranka e tempo y espacio, e lo tuma demasiado tempo pa un pais evoluciona. Politiconan y gobiernonan cu tin e poder den man di e pueblo y mundo mester ta completamente transparente, honesto y integro. Si e gobierno y politiconan ta emotionalmente no madura pasobra nan ta tin defisencia di attention of educacion of amor na mucha, e lo no por carga e poder grandi di educa un pais. Un politico mester por  surpasa e ego cu lo krece durante e poder den su trabownan den un partido of  gobierno. E ser humano mester ta prepara academico, den educacion   spiritual y emotional. E mester transmiti y comunica y biba un lenguahe di consencia collectivo, wak y schucha e problemanan cu un wowo realistico, humildad y cu fe. Nada ta di nos. Nos tey pa un rato so y e rato ey mester schucha paden di b alma pa por sa kiko ta importante pa por respeta bo mes y otro. Tur hende tin un mission pa cumpli y tur hende tin un deseo pa paz, harmonia y felisidad. No balora  identidad na cosnan di mundo of materiaal innesesario so. Arte contemporaneo ta importante, e ta un caminda cu e artista a dicidi di cana pa un mihor mundo, un mundo di justicia y paz. Reinforsa e identidad cu un lenguahe di madures, consencia y sabidura, humildad y harmonia. Carga e mundo den un bon direction. Mundo y universo ta den e man di e ser humano. Si tur politico y gobiernonan di tur pais na mundo zorg pa nan pais y hendenan ta contento y na paz, mundo lo ta uno sin guerra. No lo tin hende cu mester huy for di nan pais pa busca di ta feliz otro caminda. Politiconan y gobiernonan tene compacion na otro y no solamente na esnan cu lo benificiabo so sino tur cu ta forma parti di e mundo aki. Controla e ego y poder, inriquese e grandesa di e alma y spirito integro. E trabow ta un vocacion, no un competencia di poder y material.  Nos ta bini pa bai, e lenguahe di tempo y espacio ta loque nos a bini pa sinja y compronde. OM. 


(2002-2023). L.G.Smith Blvd # 30, Oranjestad, Aruba Concept – The immigrant. If each human being is an individual with a complete network of senses of his own and a special combination of abilities, then the vision of each human being will be different, and the way in which each individual determines his life will be a unique interpretation. Captured in the complexity of civilization, man often loses sight of his human destination. The artist not only records the physical data of his own being, but has to act as an interpreter, a vessel, a translator of human experience. Contemporary art functions as a diagnosis, a definition and a standard for human life. This work has a very important statement, because these words I have always heard through my life. These words come from my mother’s heart, she had always thought me these words, “Everybody is the same” I have always lived these words. Until I have experienced and discovered through life that this is not the truth. I used the language English, as it is the first universal language. ’

2002-2020 only beautiful words. Project only beautiful words is an ongoing light text installation (art in public space). Texts created by interviewing the local community. It investigates the relationship between light, space and memory. The project has been invited and installed in several locations. Aruba, Miami, New York, Lebanon, Nepal and Ecuador. It is a catalyst, suggesting public communication, community solidarity and collective consciousness. ’I always thought that every one is the same’- The immigrant Public Art  installation -light text.

(2002-2014). Project, only beautiful words. Light Text- poem in native language ‘Papiamento’ written in 2011. The concept is about how  language can transform space and time and influence cultural identities by several different factors such as religion, ancestry, skin color, language, class, education, profession, skill, family and political attitudes. These factors contribute to the development of ones identity. Language develops from the wants of the people who tend to spread themselves in a common given location over a particular period of time. This tends to allow people to share a way of life that generally links individuals in a certain culture that is identified by the people of that group. The affluence of communication that comes along with sharing a language promotes connections and roots to ancestors and cultural histories. Language also includes the way people speak with peers, family members, authority figures, and strangers. Language learning process can also be affected by cultural identity via the understanding of specific words and the preference for specific words when learning and using a second language. Since many aspects of a person’s cultural identity can be changed, such as citizenship or influence from outside cultures can change cultural traditions. Language is the main component of cultural identity. Cultural identity is the process of exploration and questioning about one’s culture in order to learn more about it and to understand the implications of  being in one culture.” During this stage a person will begin to question why they hold their beliefs and compare it to the beliefs of other cultures. Such as being born in Aruba and have a Dutch Passport. For some this stage may arise from a turning point in their life or from a growing awareness of other cultures. This stage is characterized by growing awareness in social and political forums and a desire to learn more about culture. This can be expressed by asking family members questions about tradition, history, past background. This stage might have an emotional component as well. Cultural identity achievement is characterized by a clear, confident acceptance of oneself and an internalization of one’s cultural identity. In this stage i allow the acceptance of  my cultural identity and how to deal with hybrid stereotypes, any discrimination and approach or negative perceptions, s.a. rejection, repulse, disavowal or non-acceptance. This usually leads to an increase in self-confidence and positive psychological adjustment. For more infomation search: www.pamm.org. Artwork light text ” Abo ta ami’. You are me.  Abo Ta  e tempo cu ta surpasa mi bista. You are the time that surpasses my vision. Abo ta e aire cu ta sostene mi curpa. You are the air that sustains my body. Abo ta e brisa cu ta rondona mi alma. You are the breeze that surrounds my soul. Abo ta e awa cu ta corre den mi wowo. You are the water that  runs in my eyes. Abo ta e color cu ta carisia mi pensamento. You are the color that caresses my thoughts. Abo ta e luz cu ta brilla tur momento. You are the light that shines all moment. Abo ta e alegria cu conocemi. You are the happiness  that knows me. Abo ta ami. You are me.

 

(2001) The  TenT Gallery Rotterdam, Holland. Artwork  Illusion. Grand price artwork installation. Curated by Dr. Adi Martis, Jennifer smith, Thomas Mejier Zu Schlochteren project Beeldende Kunst van de Nederlandse Antillen en Aruba

 

(2000). Watamula.(21 Sept-12 Oct) “Watamula” Installation on Curacao at Plantage Knip. Research on colonialism and ancestors . Through Water, a liquid element, bathing the fears away. In a blue reservoir, a water tank. A performance and video installation. Objet trouve’ Size, 8 x 7 x 3 meter – video performance of 37 minutes by choosing the water reservoir which was used to ferment indigo plants. I expressed the use of water as a metaphor for soothing the past, washing away the pain, and to understand life. Life is like a theater script but with real individuals. Finding a backpack in the x water reservoir, at that moment it was covered with waste and a left behind stolen belongings of a homosexual mixed race couple (including intimate photographs). Their life crossed path with mine and we were bound together by fate and by this location with all its historical connotation. This event of real life reflections and a contemporary view of art as an agent of revelation, where history and architecture became the symbolic mediator. The process that got an additional boost by this chance, encountered and evolved into a ritualistic bath where I submerged with my transcendental call. Beyond historical fears and limits i exchanged fondness to humankind, to justice and discrimination. It was a declaration of kindness for my white and black homosexual friends. Being as translators on selflessness.

 

(1998). Exposition at Spiral Gallery Barbados. Artwork, To my friend no.11. Project Lips, Sticks & Marks.Curated by visual artists, Annelee Davis and Jocelyn Gardner.

(1998). Exposition at Art Foundry Trinidad. Artwork, To my friend no.11. Project Lips, Sticks & Marks. Curated by visual artists, Jocelyn Gardner, Annelee Davis and Irene Shaw.

 

(1997) Silence. Biennale de Havana Cuba,  Installation ‘SILENCE’. Text by Gijs Stork, M.A., Art Historian and Critic, Director. An ear is an emotionally charged symbol. Because we receive the Word through the ear.  It often represents Faith. In Christian semantics, the ear will often be the symbol by which the Holy Ghost, the dove, makes the announcement to the Holy Virgin. In this case, the ear is the part of the body that makes Maria aware of her unspeakable happiness. Furthermore, it also symbolizes the woman as well as daughters. Consequently, with this the ear gets an erotic connotation as well. A magnificent sound has an immediate effect on each part of the body as a sensory experience and yet the ear in Osaira Muyale’s oeuvre  only remains are requisite of the imaginative power. It has a metaphorical meaning, which not only gives cause for observation, but also for deeper associations. Here too, it is clear that is no such a thing as the key to knowing the underlying meaning. The function of intuition is more important. An ear and listening is a mayor theme in contemporary art. Contrary to the works of, say, jan Fabre at Documenta IX and Douglas Gordon at the exposition Entre- Deux in Brussels, Osaira does not attempt to hear the unknown or the “outside”, but the tales of the public. She attempts to let the inner voice speak; to make the suppressed feelings revive. It is not surprising that listening has become a theme in a time in which the hectic life makes that nobody actually has the time to listen anymore. There are more and more souls crying and wandering in the wilderness of new media, fast television footage and 1.000 megabeats per second. Osaira Muyale listens indirectly to the people of Cuba. A work of art has to make the 1.000 voices of silent grief sound. And so, within the theme of the biennial “The individual and his memory”,  Muyale Performs an act in which she considers the public as an individual, and wants to let the memory of a past speak. But speaking takes the form of listening, listening to the inner voice. A descent in your own deepest inner self,  from where the voice of the unconscious will speak. Therefore, the ear is also comparable with the eye. Both are the carriers of the experience to the memory. For Osaira Muyale memory is a important theme in her work. The experience she tries to concertize and communicate to the spectator, by means of images that thrust themselves upon her in fragments. Life, she tries to translate into sculptures.  Here too, the fact that the dove and the ear were brought together in early symbolism, can be considered special; the dove brings the message, but also peace.  A sign that gives the ear a positive meaning.  A meaning also needed to survive, with all the experiences, positive or negative, a human being goes through in his life.

 

(1995/2020) Silhouette. An ongoing project that delves into the psychology of a repeating mechanism and triggers personal memory. It invites the audience to fill the gap between visualizing a traditional dance and a dance that has no tradition. (13 august 2007) .‘Silhouette’. A story by Osaira Muyale, Beiruth Lebanon, Arriving at the Gauille airport in France, I start wondering what is it that  i am looking for in Beirut, Lebanon, the pearl of the eastern hemisphere, that has been calling me all along, from deep within. Serhel, the elevated wall. Where my ancestors Alexander Muyale and Maria La Tuff joined their life together and forever. Antonio Muyale La Tuff was born. Aruba an island in the Caribbean sea. Watching the tequila sign, one morning 8.59 am as I jumped out of my red bed to start writing on this beautiful journey of love. Why a journey of love, I ask myself, I do not know either. I just write as my red finger nails watch my eyes writing on a white piece of paper. A green tree, in the middle of a red line and white borders. Scratching my feet, that have been bitten by moskitos. Also wondering how could these walls have been painted, as the ceiling is very high, maybe 10 meters. Half through the room, furnished with mantra pattern tiles, looking outside from a  not finished wooden window, where mr. Habash just left his balcony to go back inside. Tequila, yes that’s what is hanging out of my room window. Beer is what I drank last night at a express bar, a place where you can not move your body, only your eyes. My eyes kept rolling to all the corners of a small long space filled space with fog and cigarettes, wet lips kissing each other, as if there was no end neither mouth. Going back at my room at 1.00, i thought hmm.. it’s going to be hot again, after taking a bath, drops still running around up my body, I could feel how there was no end of staying wet, as it was hot. As I lay in bed, I thought just as last night, it will get cooler and in the morning when I wake up, I can reinforce this statement, because I’am  not sweaty any more and because of a cool breeze only in the morning. When I woke up, my body starts to feel cooler, as the breeze starts to get accustomed with the room temperature. Noises in the street, cars, hunks, talking and screaming people, serene’s, hard engines, going up and down, it’s morning, a day to start, a party ago. It’s fry day. I see that everyone has a split unit hanging on the wall. I wish I could feel this breeze of coolness soon. I am going to make coffee and wanted to visit the metadata church, in the street, until 12 it’s open.

 

(1995/2020) Surrounded by Circles.
An ongoing project that collects circles, confront ideas on conceptual and abstract perspectives. It implies movement and symbolize the cycle of earth and the sky, everything that moves.