Amber Robles-Gordon's Artwork Navigates US Colonialism for its Colonies, including DC

About this event

Millennium Arts Salon provides this salon talk featuring Artist Amber Robles-Gordon in interview with Interim Chief Curator of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Dr. Tuliza Fleming, at the Katzen Arts Center of American University. Ms. Robles-Gordon, who was born in Puerto Rico, and raised in the DC area, examines the role of the United States as a colonial power with both Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia as two such colonies, with intimations of paternalism, tyranny, and containment of citizen aspiration attendant thereto. Dr. Fleming as scholar, will guide our better understanding of Amber's magnum opus, as she explores the underpinnings of the artwork from conceptualization to execution.

Millennium Arts Salon honors our relationship with the Katzen Arts Center in bringing programs of importance to our joint and several audiences in their beautiful and monumental space.

The MAS Salon Talk will be delivered over Zoom. Please register via the Eventbrite ticket engine and an email of the Zoom link will be sent to you before the event. 

Please join us Saturday November 13 at 3:00 pm

Artfully yours,

The Board of Directors of Millennium Arts Salon

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/salon-talk-amber-robles-gordon-with-tuliza-fleming-at-katzen-art-center-tickets-204795648297

REVIEW: A deeper look into two AU Museum art exhibits

‘The Art of Reimagining Scientific Discovery’ and ‘Traversing US Colonialism’ bring spectators into new perspectives

By Olivia Barclay / Monday, October 25, 2021

The American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center opened in August and currently features five exhibits, all with very different themes. 

The museum features a variety of exhibits every season that open viewers up to a whole new world of art. “Reveal: The Art of Reimagining Scientific Discovery” and “Successions: Traversing US Colonialism” are two of the exhibits that introduce viewers to new perspectives on the world we live in today. 

“The Art of Reimagining Scientific Discovery” by Rebecca Kamen

“Reveal: The Art of Reimagining Scientific Discovery” by Rebecca Kamen uses a mixture of models and paintings. Kamen focuses on rocks, cells, cell processes and viruses in her exhibit. 

The rock models are made out of mylar and are painted with acrylic paint, making the viewer look at different types of rocks in a new way. By making these models colorful, Kamen hopes to demonstrate the importance of rocks in an interesting way. 

She also includes cell processes such as cell division in her pieces titled “Warming.” “Warming” is painted on mylar with washes of bright colors. Creating these pieces introduces viewers to the beauty of cells and how amazing the human body is in the ability to conduct such processes. 

Kamen also made several models of the coronavirus out of mylar and painted with acrylic paint. She produced these pieces to pay tribute to the losses from the virus and the relevance it has in all of our lives. She also demonstrates the complexity in the structure of the virus through the accurately placed features and bright layers of orange. Kamen encapsulates the beauty of science and the importance it has on all of our lives. “The Art of Reimagining Scientific Discovery” honors how far science has come in the past years and educates audiences on just how much we know about science. 

“Traversing US Colonialism” by Amber Robles-Gordon

“Traversing US Colonialism” is an exhibit created by Amber Robles-Gordon. It is a mixture of quilts and collages that detail the United States’ history of colonization. In her quilts, she depicts some of the territories the U.S. has invaded and the effects it's had on the people living in those areas.

Robles-Gordon’s quilts demonstrate how U.S. colonization has specifically affected people in those territories spiritually and politically. Each side of the seven quilts depicts these effects in order to demonstrate just how much damage was done as a result. The quilts intend to make the viewer think about the actions of their country in the past and how that is prevalent in the future. To the viewer, she wants her audience to question the effects of colonization on the people, not just the benefits of their country.

Robles-Gordon's exhibit also includes her own story in it, incorporating her birthplace of Puerto Rico. This portion of the exhibit is titled “Place of Breath and Birth,” which includes collages displayed on canvas. Here, she brings to light the debate of statehood for her birthplace as well as the effects that the pandemic had on Puerto Rico. Robles-Gordon intends to educate her audience on how U.S. territories, specifically Puerto Rico, are directly affected by the United States’ actions. Robles-Gordon highlights the lack of support that the country has given to Puerto Rico and how that has been similar for the other territories under U.S. control. Amber Robles-Gordon demonstrates how US colonialism affects the people within those territories and specifically how it affected her own country. 

The AU Museum brings to light many different perspectives on the world we live in today. “The Art of Reimagining Scientific Discovery” and “Traversing US Colonialism” will help students and residents better understand the advancements and tribulations of the nation to better engage in the environment around them.

life@theeagleonline.com

https://www.theeagleonline.com/article/2021/10/review-a-deeper-look-into-two-au-museum-art-exhibits

Gallery Talk for Successions: Traversing US Colonialism

Gallery Talk: "Successions"

DC mixed-media artist Amber Robles-Gordon talks "Successions" with curator Larry Ossei-Mensah.

About this Event:

Successions is a conceptual juxtaposition that celebrates abstraction as an art form while leveraging it as a tool to interrogate past and current US policies within its federal district (Washington, DC) and territories (including Guam, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands) that it controls. 

This event will be held virtually. Please register to receive the Zoom link via email.  Learn more about the exhibition. 

OrganizerAmerican University Museum At The Katzen Arts Center

Organizer of Gallery Talk: "Successions"

Housed in the dynamic and multidisciplinary Katzen Arts Center, the American University Museum builds its programming on the strengths of a great college and great university. We focus on international art because American University has a global commitment. We show political art because the university is committed to human rights, social justice, and political engagement. We support the artists in our community because the university takes an active and responsible role in the formation of our contemporary art and culture. 

We present exhibitions that mirror American University’s aspiration to be the premier Washington-based, global university. Our programming puts the best art of our region in a national and international context. Our collections enable us to present the art history of Washington, while our Kunsthalle attitude brings the most provocative art of our time to our place.

You may also like the following events from American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center:

• Next month, 12th October, 06:00 pm, Gallery Talk: "Seeing Climate Change"

• Next month, 14th October, 06:00 pm, Gallery Talk: "Reveal" in Online

• This November, 17th November, 06:00 pm, Gallery Talk: “In the Light of Memory” in Online

Also check out other Arts Events in Online,Exhibitions in Online.

Ticket Information: RSVP

Tickets for Gallery Talk: "Successions" can be booked below.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/gallery-talk-successions-tickets-163405503259

Ticket Price: Free

Image: Amber Robles-Gordon, y mi bandera vuela mas alto que la tuya (detail), 2020. Mixed media collage on canvas, 18 x 24 in. Courtesy of the artist.

Successions: Traversing US Colonialism Amber Robles-Gordon

August 28–December 12, 2021

American University Museum Curated by
at the Katzen Arts Center Larry Ossei-Mensah

Amber Robles-Gordon presents Successions: Traversing US Colonial- ism, a solo exhibition on view at the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center in fall 2021. Successions is a conceptual juxta- position that celebrates abstraction as an art form while leveraging it as a tool to interrogate past and current US policies within its federal district (Washington, DC) and territories (including Guam, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands) that it controls. By highlighting nuances relat- ed to US governance in its federal districts and territories, Robles-Gor- don seeks to question who has access to resources, citizenship, and the right to sovereignty.

y mi bandera vuela mas alto que la tuya., Mixed Media Collage on Canvas, 18 x 24 in., 2020

Robles-Gordon creates artwork imbued with a layered visual language replete with cultural signifiers and abstract gestures. Successions is a celebration of abstraction as an artistic expression. Robles-Gordon uti- lizes iconic artists like Robert Rauschenberg, Alma Thomas, Romare Bearden, and members of the Washington Color School as vivid refer- ence points for her own dynamic use of color, form, and material within the works she created for the exhibition. These explorations will provide insights into a number of inquiries that undergird the construction of the exhibition. Successions creates a pathway towards discursive crit- icism around issues impacting marginalized communities oppressed by the United States’ hegemonic domestic and foreign policies. The exhibition features a new body of colorful abstract paintings, collages, and quilts created in 2020 and 2021 between San Juan, Puerto Rico (Robles-Gordon’s birthplace) and Washington, DC (where she current- ly lives).

USVI Political, Detail, Front, Mixed Media on Quilt, 86 in. x 90 in., in., 2021

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Robles-Gordon’s creative strategies were directly impacted as a result of sheltering in place in San Juan. The lack of access to materials and arduous circumstances she was confronted with in Puerto Rico and upon returning to Washington, DC catalyzed Robles-Gordon to impro- vise her approach to making works for the exhibition. Moreover, the ex- perience heightened her awareness of how communities on the margin are adversely treated during mo- ments of crisis.

Robles-Gordon’s also uses works featured in Successions to mine the stories, personal narratives, and aesthetics of the women of the Caribbean, particularly of African de- scent, in an effort to investigate the political, socio-economic, and envi- ronmental implications of placemaking, contemporary colonial policy, and notions of citizenship on these social groups. The debate over DC statehood, similar to Puerto Rico, has been a prevalent point of con- tention in the District but rarely featured in the national conversation. Robles-Gordon seeks to use her “backyard” as a metaphor that would

expand our understanding of notions of freedom, liberty, and justice.

A fully illustrated catalog with essays by Ossei-Mensah and Noel Anderson and in-person and virtual programs will accompany the exhibi- tion, enriching the viewer’s experience.

In Shoulder the Deed, Artists Reflect on the Present and the Past

In the exhibition Shoulder the Deed at Eckington gallery STABLE, the curators have gone back and fetched a history that strengthens the establishment not only of STABLE, but also of the Black artists living and working in D.C.

by SHANTAY ROBINSON JULY 15TH, 2021

Photography courtesy of Tony Powell.

Image Description:

(center) Starr Page.‘The’ James Baldwin Table, 2018.

(bottom center) Amber Robles Gordon The Male, The Architect, The Protector (Outer Circle) The Universe (inner circle), 2017, The Female, The Oracle, The Nurturer, (outer circle), 2017.

(left) Gail Shaw-Clemons,. Masks, 2020.

(right) Aziza Gibson-Hunter, Gri Gris, for the First Wave of the Third Millennium, 2020.

Originating from the Akan people of Ghana, the term Sankofa is often associated with the proverb “Se wo were fi na wosankofa a yenkyi,” meaning “it is not taboo to go back and fetch what you forgot.” The Adinkra symbol for the concept is a mythical bird flying forward with its head turned backward. In the exhibition Shoulder the Deed at Eckington gallery STABLE, the curators have gone back and fetched a history that strengthens the establishment not only of STABLE, but also of the Black artists living and working in D.C. STABLE, in collaboration with the Black Artists of D.C., presents an impressive collection of artworks steeped in rich African and African American traditions. As you enter the space, the wall to the right features photographs of some key personages such as Harlee Little and Juliette Madison, who, beginning in 1985, envisioned a space where Black photographers could commiserate and work. Shoulder the Deed is a spiritual reckoning. The artists in the exhibition, spanning several generations, come together to travel through time to bring forth conceptual and even modern works that speak to Black experience through portraiture, video art, assemblage, and more.

Before seeing the artwork, Black presence is felt and sets the tone for the exhibition. Upon entering the gallery, the sounds from Shaunté Gates’ video work “Free Breakfast Program” hauntingly quiets the mind. The repetitive loop of phrases such as “By their very presence…” and “I was always here …” over a go-go rhythm signals that we are in Black space, if the artworks had not already signaled this. The sound draws you to the work full of edited and manipulated images, displaying a history of the Black experience. The archival historical footage is juxtaposed with more recent archival footage as Black people perform traditional African dance and B-boys break.

While Gates’ work references relatively recent history using media technology, Gina Marie Lewis confronts history with an ancestral altar. “Libations for the Journey” is a mixed media work that uses images, cowrie shells, bottle corks, seashells, champagne, and door handles to offer the ancestors access and vision on a journey. A wooden box depicting a slightly open door sits in the middle of the altar as a doorway to the past, with candles inside to light the way in the darkness. This generous offering to the ancestors allows the artist to look to the past to create a path to the future spiritually. Lewis uses traditional technology to reach back in time to secure the blessings of the ancestors on a journey forward.

In keeping with the theme of looking at the past, Stan Squirewell’s “Monk Hancock (Innocent Criminal Series)” combines ancient times with the present in a portrait that is a mashup of a modern-day Black man dressed in a black winter coat manipulated with an overlay of the facade of an Egyptian statue and the bodice of a Roman one. Looking back to notable periods in history, Squirewell tells a contemporary story about the fight for survival. The portrait allows for a connection between how a contemporary Black man must fight for his life, much like those who have gone before in other treacherous times. 

Nekisha Durrett’s “Magnolias” says the names of women whose lives were lost too soon. In a light box, the names of three women are highlighted on magnolia leaves. These unarmed women were killed by police, referencing the threat unarmed Black women face in their everyday existences. The stories of these women’s deaths are all too common today, but by saying their names, Durrett remembers them and encapsulates their circumstance for others to know and remember their fates. 

The artworks in the exhibition work together; Michael Platt’s “Evening Ritual,” a painting of a nude Black woman depicted eight times and composed in a circle, alludes to the “magic” that Black women have been known to perform for centuries. The subject of the painting looks directly at the viewer from many angles as we witness her in ritual. The idea reminds viewers of the spectatorship Black people have gone through as the “other.” The defiance in the subject’s response shows she is not threatened by the gaze of the viewer. 

In several ways, the artworks speak of the present while at the same time referring to the past. From modernist tendencies to conceptual leanings, the show represents an array of works that belong in the same exhibition space but are each unique in their perspective. As a continuation of STABLE’s relationship with Black artists for almost four decades, this exhibition represents the importance of looking back to the foundation for clues on the direction to take next. Each of the artworks in Shoulder the Deed has a distinct quality that makes visitors want to see more from the artists. The artwork in this exhibition looks at the past while representing the contemporary moment, moving us into a more conscious future.

At STABLE to Sept. 30. 336 Randolph Place NE. (202) 953-9559. stablearts.org.

This story has been updated to clarify Little and Madison’s connection to STABLE.

Successions: Traversing US Colonialism @ American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center

Amber Robles-Gordon

Curated by Larry Ossei-Mensah
August 29–December 12, 2021

DC Political, Welcome to the District of Colonialism, Front, Mixed Media on Quilt, 86 (L) in. x 90 (H) in., 2021

Amber Robles-Gordon presents Successions: Traversing US Colonialism, a solo exhibition on view at the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center in fall 2021. Successions is a conceptual juxtaposition that celebrates abstraction as an art form while leveraging it as a tool to interrogate past and current US policies within its federal district (Washington, DC) and territories (including Guam, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands) that it controls. By highlighting nuances related to US governance in its federal districts and territories, Robles-Gordon seeks to question who has access to resources, citizenship, and the right to sovereignty.

Robles-Gordon creates artwork imbued with a layered visual language replete with cultural signifiers and abstract gestures. Successions is a celebration of abstraction as an artistic expression. Robles-Gordon utilizes iconic artists like Robert Rauschenberg, Alma Thomas, Romare Bearden, and members of the Washington Color School as vivid reference points for her own dynamic use of color, form, and material within the works she created for the exhibition. These explorations will provide insights into a number of inquiries that undergird the construction of the exhibition. Successions creates a pathway towards discursive criticism around issues impacting marginalized communities oppressed by the United States’ hegemonic domestic and foreign policies. The exhibition features a new body of colorful abstract paintings, collages, and quilts created in 2020 and 2021 between San Juan, Puerto Rico (Robles-Gordon’s birthplace) and Washington, DC (where she currently lives).

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Robles-Gordon’s creative strategies were directly impacted as a result of sheltering in place in San Juan. The lack of access to materials and arduous circumstances she was confronted with in Puerto Rico and upon returning to Washington, DC catalyzed Robles-Gordon to improvise her approach to making works for the exhibition. Moreover, the experience heightened her awareness of how communities on the margin are adversely treated during moments of crisis.

y mi bandera vuela mas alto que la tuya, 2020. Mixed media collage on canvas, 18 x 24 in. Courtesy of the artist.

Robles-Gordon’s also uses works featured in Successions to mine the stories, personal narratives, and aesthetics of the women of the Caribbean, particularly of African descent in an effort to investigate the political, socio-economic, and environmental implications of placemaking, contemporary colonial policy, and notions of citizenship on these social groups. The debate over DC statehood, similar to Puerto Rico, has been a prevalent point of contention in the District but rarely featured in the national conversation. Robles-Gordon seeks to use her “backyard” as a metaphor that would expand our understanding of notions of freedom, liberty, and justice.

Reflexiones sobre el yo, la virgen maría y el colonialismo, (Reflections of Self, The Virgin Mary and Colonialism,) Mixed media, collage on canvas, 18 x 24 in. Courtesy of the artist.

A fully illustrated catalog with essays by Ossei-Mensah and Noel Anderson and in-person and virtual programs will accompany the exhibition, enriching the viewer’s experience.

Click the link below for additional information and artwork included in the exhibition.

https://www.american.edu/cas/museum/2021/successions.cfm

About the Artist:

Amber Robles-Gordon is a mixed media visual artist of Puerto Rican and West Indian heritage. She is known for her commissioned temporary and permanent public art installations for numerous government agencies, institutions, universities, and art fairs.

Robles-Gordon has over twenty years of experience exhibiting and in art education, commissioned critiques, lectures, teaching, and exhibition coordination. She received a BS in business administration from Trinity University and an MFA in painting from Howard University, Washington, DC. She has exhibited nationally and internationally, including Germany, Italy, Malaysia, England, and Spain. Robles-Gordon has participated in residencies in Costa Rica, Washington, DC, and at the American Academy in Rome, Italy. Her artwork has been reviewed and featured in numerous magazines, journals, newspapers, and online publications.

Most recently, she held an online solo exhibition at Galeria de Arte, Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and was featured by Tafeta Gallery in the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair in London, England, and during London Art Week. In 2022, she will create a traveling exhibition in collaboration with Cultural DC and El Cuadrado Gris Galeria in Puerto Rico. 

About the Curator:

Larry Ossei-Mensah uses contemporary art as a vehicle to redefine how we see ourselves and the world around us. A Ghanaian-American curator and cultural critic, Ossei-Mensah has organized exhibitions and programs at commercial and nonprofit spaces around the globe from New York City to Rome, featuring artists including Firelei Baez, Allison Janae Hamilton, Brendan Fernades, Ebony G. Patterson, Modou Dieng, Glenn Kaino, Joiri Minaya and Stanley Whitney. Moreover, Ossei-Mensah has actively documented cultural happenings featuring the most dynamic visual artists working today, including Derrick Adams, Mickalene Thomas, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Federico Solmi, and Kehinde Wiley.

A native of The Bronx, Ossei-Mensah is also the co-founder of ARTNOIR, a 501(c)(3) and global collective of culturalists who design multimodal experiences aimed to engage this generation’s dynamic and diverse creative class. ARTNOIR endeavors to celebrate the artistry and creativity of Black and Brown artists around the world via virtual and in-person experiences. Ossei-Mensah was a contributor to the first-ever Ghanaian Pavilion for the 2019 Venice Biennial with an essay on the work of visual artist Lynette Yiadom-Boakye.

Ossei-Mensah is the former Susanne Feld Hilberry Senior Curator at MOCAD in Detroit and currently serves as Curator-at-Large at Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), where he curated the New York Times heralded exhibition Let Free Ring and A Return: Liberation as Power respectively.       

Ossei-Mensah has been profiled in publications including the New York Times, Artsy, and Cultured Magazine, and was recently named to Artnet’s 2020 Innovator List. Follow him on Instagram at @larryosseimensah and Twitter at @youngglobal.

Recent initiatives of our Galería de Arte at Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, The director of Galería de Arte, Norma Vila, interviewed Amber Robles Gordon, our visiting artist.

Since its inception, the Galería’s mission has been to offer the university and general public a heterogeneous program that researches and documents current humanistic issues through Puerto Rican art. Beyond working the heterogeneous within the artistic manifestations, as an institution driven by its civic and academic mission, we have opted to provide space to projects and artists whose voices promote social justice issues. Intersectional topics such as gender, race, beliefs, values, and our diaspora are included in the Galería’s program and it becomes a teaching-learning laboratory for faculty and students. The Galería affords the opportunity to create interdisciplinary experiences and strengthen analytical and creative thinking.

But how to expose them to what happens outside the island? For this academic year, the Gallery decided to launch a visiting artist program and selected Washington, D.C.-based Afro-Puerto Rican artist Amber Robles Gordon. Having a visiting artist contributes to the training of students far beyond a class, it functions as an on-site journey, and strengthens ties with the community. Most importantly, visiting artists bolster our vision of lifelong education by challenging the “right answer” framework that limits the teaching and learning experiences.

At the beginning of the academic year, Robles-Gordon visited the island for the first time since she left Puerto Rico when she was very young. As our invited artist, she lodged at a residence adjacent to the campus, and gave a series of conferences to various groups of students. Her second visit to Sagrado was on November when gave a conference based on her work and artistic professional practice. She expounded on how she has broken with the stereotypes of Afro-Latin-American women and artists and how she uses her profession as support and defense of social justice. 

Amber Robles Gordon is an artist known for recontextualizing non-traditional materials at different scales from two-dimensional artwork to her public works of art. Her intention is to emphasize the essentiality of spirituality and temporality within life. Robles is driven by the need to build her own distinctive path, innovate and challenge social norms, which is why her artwork is unconventional and unformulated. Her creations are representative of her personal experiences and the paradoxes within the imbalance of masculine and feminine energies in our society. Ultimately, she seeks to examine the parallels between how humanity perceives its greatest resources, men, and women, and how we treat our possessions and the environment.

From the experience of visiting the island, she created a body of artwork appropriately titled “A Place of Breath and Birth” which was to be exhibited in April 2020. However, this was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The solution to this problem was to present her work in a virtual fashion.

Having the opportunity to coordinate her two visits to our campus, exchange experiences, listen to her motivating lectures, and see in her recent artistic production, sparked in me the desire to interview her. I hope you can get to know more about Amber Robles Gordon through this conversation.

N: Place of Breath and Birth is the title of your recent production developed in Puerto Rico. Would you please elaborate on the significance of the name?

A: The title literally came from my desire to know more about where I was born and where my mother spent her childhood. Puerto Rico (PR) is both my place of birth and the place where I drew my first breath.  At the time of my birth, most of my family – maternal and paternal – lived in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. I spent the first two years of my life in St. Thomas and then moved with my mom and dad to Washington, DC.  My mother—the primarily link to my birthplace—taught me Spanish and kindled my identification with ‘La Isla”.  During my 2019, trip, I began my search for family members who still resided in PR.  I felt that this search would cultivate a deeper relationship with Puerto Rico.

After my two visits to Puerto Rico in late 2019, I decided in early 2020 to rent an apartment in Puerto Nuevo to start producing the series “A Place of Breath and Birth.” Due to the persistent earthquakes, and the risk that they represent for the Sacred community, my exhibition was postponed, later with the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, everything worldwide changed and I had to return to Washington D.C. New works produced under the title A Place of Encouragement and Birth were moved to an online platform. 

This would be my first opportunity to exhibit in the Caribbean and deepen my relationship with my birthplace, Puerto Rico, “La Isla del Encanto”. That is why I have titled the exhibition, Place of Breath and Birth. This was my original statement as an artist that gave rise to this series and it is still burning and guiding my discovery daily. The intention of the proposal for an individual exhibition at P.R. was to empower my five-year-old self. To give her the strength to fight for herself, her language and culture. I was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico and raised in Arlington, Virginia. My first language was Spanish, yet at about five years old, I came home one day and told my mother: “I was not speaking Spanish anymore”. From then on, I responded to my Spanish/English speaking mother in English only.  Later, I came to understand that I had surrendered my Spanish tongue—a critical part of my cultural identity— so that I could “fit” a version of myself that could possibly coincide with the prescribed box that others had for a brown-skinned girl such as myself.  Although in time, the name calling ceased, however, the micro-aggressions, insensitive questions, assumptions, and judgments about my brownness lingered. Throughout this life, time-after-time, I have had to choose to identify with my brownness/blackness over the other cultural ties that bind other Spanish speaking people with their culture.

Although, my personal narrative is the main focus of these works of art, I will continue to contextualize it within the political, socioeconomic, and environmental threads that define and are often used to control, alienate, or mistreat Puerto Ricans in general and Afro-Puerto Ricans. in particular. Also, my artwork is about the intersections of femininity, patriarchy, hybridism, and Americanism. Ultimately, I hope this narrative and this work of art will give voice to others who walk in shades of brown, who breathe within a feminine form and who do not conform to the rules… but are bold and proud.

Elemental: Tierra, Aire, Agua, Fuego, 18 x 24, 2020

N: That visit in September 2019 was your first visit to Puerto Rico. How was that first encounter?

A: Technically, my two-week trip to PR in September 2019, was my first trip there as an adult.  My mother told me that I have been to PR as a young child. However, I truly had no memory of those visits.  During the first trip, accompanied by my mother, we realized this was the first time we traveled alone together. I had my mother all to myself! She is an amazing human being:  She is always working, helping family, friends and organizations and causes that concern her. She is always DOING something. Thus, being able to spend time with her exploring the Sagrado Corazon’s campus, local art museums and galleries, El Yunque National Rain Forest, and other places imprinted on my mother’s childhood were immeasurable.  Moreover, I meet my boyfriend during this trip. So I have many good reasons to celebrate having been able to visit the island.

N: As our visiting artist you offered a presentation to 3 groups of the Art Program of the University. For those who weren’t there, would you elaborate on how you integrate your origins and beliefs with the use of various materials and vibrant colors?

A: I believe following one’s authentic internal voice is an essential part of integrating ones’ origins and beliefs and projecting this awareness into the use of whatever medium and or methods you choose to create with or live by. Creating art, is an essential method of self-joy and self-expression, and a means for sharing my concerns and connecting to a higher power.

I have known, I would be at artist since I was eight years old. Beyond being loved and cherished by my mother and father as a child; the other activities that triggered an innate and immediate positive response, was being encouraged and praised for my creativity. I recall the feeling of pride when my first or second-grade art teacher praised my artistry or being allowed to hang my artwork in the lobby of our apartment building—the Brittany, Arlington, VA—as a teenager. My life experiences have been intricately connected to my love of art and creating.

I was also encouraged to defend or advocate for the rights and appropriate treatment of myself and others. I have vivid memories, of getting in trouble, especially in school, for the right to speak my mind and claim my agency over my body and voice. I objected to middle school boys who slapped the derriere’s or snapped the bras of the girls they “liked”.  I recollect the sting of the slap and my disappointment, as the school’s vice-principal referred to these personal infringements, as love-taps. I remember the anger welling up inside me, from being chastised and or punished for yelling at or chasing the perpetrator.  It was clear that the boys were not held to the same standards of behavior as the girls.  These and other experiences throughout my childhood unveiled deep-seated gender variances and stirred a desire to explore the underpinnings of gender inequality, which is embedded throughout my artwork.

During my graduate experience at Howard University, I was exposed to different philosophers and their views.  In fact, the renowned debate between Black philosophers, Alain LeRoy Locke, and W.E.B. Du Bois regarding art as a form of individualistic and aesthetic expression, or art as propaganda to contribute to racial advancement and group expression was particularly meaningful for me.  This debate further reinforced the importance and privilege of my own creativity and creative process.  Using my art to give voice to others and further define my agency as women of color became even more fundamental.

N: How did visiting and living for a short time in Puerto Rico influence your work? How does this series titled A Place of Breath and Birth differ from your previous artwork?

A: I have wanted to create work about PR for most of my adult life. Growing up in the states away from most of my family and Caribbean life has fostered a longing for a pilgrimage to Puerto Rico, Antigua, Tortola, BVI, and eventually trace my roots to Africa. I initiated this process in September 2016, by reaching out to Edwin Velazquez Collazo, founder/writer of the art-blog, Puerto Rico Art News, and shared my art portfolio and my desire to exhibit in PR.  Since then, we checked in periodically, and in late 2018, Edwin identified an opportunity and put me in contact with you Norma Vila, (director of the Gallery) of the Galeria de Arte in Universidad del Sagrado de Corazón.

After visiting in September and November 2019, I decided to return to the island in early 2020 to live temporarily. Being in PR allowed me to focus on cultivating a specific atmosphere and environment to create and live within. I choose a third-floor apartment with two bedrooms and a sunroom and awarded myself the largest and brightest room —the sunroom— as my studio. It has four large windows and exposure to three-dimensional light every hour of the day. We filled the studio with about thirty-eight variations of plants, a futon, a printer, a storage shelf, and of course my artwork. While sitting on my futon I could watch the palm trees bend and dance to the shifts and variances of the changing weather. The standing view revealed both my immediate block life, vibrancy, greenery, music, and the loud barking little dogs below. Because I can see above all the other two-story buildings, I have an expanded vista, about 3-5 miles out, I can see the outdoor portion of the Tren Urbano, PR’s transit system. Then, about 15-20 miles away, I can see the outer fringe of city-life with looming lights and high rises.

These variances of space, environments, and time influenced this body of artwork by effecting my interpretation of and relationship to spatiality.  In these pieces, I convey both my internal feelings and external environment by the layer of materials so that they create divisions depicting various planes of existence throughout these compositions.  This formula allowed me to manifest multiple representations of atmospheric ecosystems. My time in PR provided the environment and time, to focus on expanding my perspective of and a sense of ownership of self, of land, culture, and of elements through the landscape. In this context, my commitment to sketch at least every other day, yielded sketches, primarily a combination of line drawings and geometric shapes, which lead to sacred geometry like renderings and some figuration. Later, these sketches from integral parts of the overall design of the entire series. 

N: Sometimes as artists we devise a platform and strategies that later require adapting the idea to the circumstances. This project has not been unrelated to circumstances beyond our control (earthquakes, power outages, COVID-19). Do you consider that these circumstances have had an impact on the development of your work, be it emotional, mental, or cultural?

A: I have had to be malleable in my behavior and expectations regarding this exhibition and about the circumstances that impacted this endeavor. However, my level of commitment to the process and the incremental revelations that surfaced during my time in PR were so defining and nourishing, I had no choice but to move forward.

N: Referring to the title of your project A Place of Breath and Birth. Do you still think Puerto Rico is a place of breath? And, if so, in what sense?

Puerto Rico will always be my Place of Breath and Birth, and I welcome opportunities to continue to learn about, build community and experiences to further know that part of myself and heritage. 

I also become aware that, I am imprinted by my mom’s memories of her childhood home. During my visit, I witnessed the change in accent and the increased level of attachment and comfort she felt in PR.  Apparently, this was also observed by you, Norma (director of the Gallery), I remember you mentioned that she sounded more Puerto Rican every day on the island. I think I also witnessed the charm of the island through the way my mother felt – how she cooked, danced, and delighted in her Afro-Latinity; all the things that have influenced my sense of identity. 

COVID-19 Times 

N: How was your studio practice interrupted by the lockdown?  How has your work changed because of the lockdown?  

A: Yes, there was an interesting continuum of things in life that impacted my production in the studio, in my life, and even in the planning of this project during these first months of 2020. I used the first phase of my residency on the island to locate my house and my studio in Puerto Rico, which took longer than expected due to the tremors. Once I was located in my apartment, I began the second phase; exploring, photographing, and searching for resources to incorporate into the art. Then, the lockdown happened, and another level of limitations ensued.

In Puerto Rico, the quarantine was extremely strict. Most businesses were required to shut down. Only, the local government, supermarkets, some restaurants (mostly fast food establishments), and pharmacies could remain open. I could no longer go to the art supplies store when I needed supplies. Yet, I still had deadlines to meet for upcoming exhibitions and or projects. I had to conform myself to using whatever was already in my possession to create this body of artwork.

N: What are you working on right now?

A: Right now, I am working on artwork for my solo exhibition, Secession, at Katzen Center, in the American University in September 2020. The Place of Breath and Birth series will also be a part of that exhibit.  This exhibit will also include the other set of artworks, 8-10 quilts, I worked on while in PR.

N: What are you reading, both online and off?  

A: I am not an avid book reader. More often, I listen to audiobooks and or listen to informational videos. I also spend a lot of time reading online articles about art in general from a select number of online art publications: https://hyperallergic.com, https://bmoreart.com and https://www.artsy.net. Daily, I read numerous online articles and posts about current issues, such as politics and social justice issues and happenings.

N: Have you visited any good virtual exhibitions recently?

A: I was drawn in by the work of María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Untitled, from the series When I am not Here, Estoy allá, 1996. The exhibit also features artwork by James A. Porter and Carmen Lomas Garza. Eye to I: Self Portraits from the National Portrait Gallery, at the Boca Raton Museum of Art. With the term “self-conscious” as its starting point, the exhibition Eye to I is a cherry-picking of self-portraits by major artists in the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery.

With the term “self-conscious” as its starting point, the exhibition Eye to I is a cherry-picking of self-portraits by major artists in the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. With a wide range of depictions spanning over a century, this thoughtful presentation straddles themes from cultural identity to body positivity. Catch up with it in this six-minute video tour.

N: Have you taken up any new hobbies?  

A: Honestly, although I am now back in DC and I have not had the time to start a new hobby yet. Most of my time is divided into creating artwork, administrative tasks, cooking, grocery shopping, exercising, and spending time with my family and loved ones.

N: What is the first place you want to travel to once this is over?                

A: Huh, that is a good question. Since 2015, I have traveled to Thailand, Italy, Miami, Morocco, and Puerto Rico. So, although I absolutely welcome the opportunity to travel again, I do not have a specific place in mind as of right now.  Future plans include continuing my familial pilgrimage, by spending more time in Puerto Rico, visiting Tortola, and then tracing my African roots.

N: If you are feeling stuck while self-isolating, what is your best method for getting unstuck? 

A: I am fortunate that my self-isolation has included my boyfriend and my mother, brother, and niece who live a few blocks away.  So, when I am feeling stuck or frustrated, we go for a walk, visit family, plant some plants, or simply watch a good Science Fiction movie. 

N: What was the last TV show, movie, or YouTube video you watched?  

A: Right now, we are watching the Star Trek Discovery series. In mid-May we gathered at my mom’s house on a Sunday evening and made a YouTube collection of the songs she would play (vinyl long-playing 45s records) on either Saturday or Sunday mornings before we did our chores.  This collection included songs from when we were between 5 to 17 years of age.  Among them are: “I love Trash”, “ I left my Cookies at the Disco” by the Sesame Street crew; three of Tracy Chapman’s 1988 chartbusters: Fast Car and Talkin’ Bout a Revolution, and Mountains o’ Things. On the Latin side we focused on Juan Luis Guerra y 440’s Ojalá que llueva Café, Bachata Rosa, and Burbujas De Amor; and Puerto Rican Yomo Torro’s “Don’t Bury my Clothes”.

Alma Thomas’ Apollo 12 “Splash Down,” 1970

N: If you could have one famous work of art with you, what would it be?

A: I would love to live with Alma Thomas’ Apollo 12 “Splash Down,” 1970.  I was eight years old when I first saw Alma Thomas work.  My mom, then a student at Georgetown University, was taken a course on African American Art, which included a project to see Thomas’ work exhibited at Howard University.  My mom says I stood in front of her work—my eyes huge while holding my breath—mesmerized by her work. 

N: What are you most looking forward to doing once social distancing has been lifted?

A: Recently, I have been craving tuna salad sandwiches from El Meson or the “Tres Leches” dessert at La Casita Blanca, local bastions of Puerto Rico’s Cocina Criolla (traditional Puerto Rican cuisine). Also, I hope that I can attend my opening at American University in fall, 2020.

Galería de Arte de la Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Presents Place of Breath and Birth, Virtual Exhibition of Amber Robles-Gordon

At Sagrado, the well-being of our community comes first. We continue to monitor the development of events related to the worldwide spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19). As a precautionary measure, Sagrado is implementing the practice of social distancing. Therefore, the Art Gallery will remain closed until further notice. Over the years, we have created a community that comes together to appreciate different aesthetic experiences. We want to continue this without putting our visitors at risk. Therefore, we are making this experience available online. Among the new offerings, we share the work of Amber Robles Gordon, who was our visiting artist during the fall semester and, from that experience, has created new works under the title "Place of Breath and Birth".

Amber Robles-Gordon is a mixed media visual artist. Known for recontextualizing non-traditional materials, their assemblies, large sculptures, installations, and public works of art, to emphasize the essentiality of spirituality and temporality within life. Driven by the need to build her own distinctive path, innovate, and challenge social norms, her artwork is unconventional and unformulated. Their creations are representative of their personal experiences and the paradoxes within the imbalance of male and female energies with our society. Ultimately, the intention is to examine the parallels between how humanity perceives its greatest resources, men, and women versus how we treat our possessions and the environment.

I was chosen to be an academic visiting artist from the Art Gallery, Universidad Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico, (PR) this year. This opportunity meant that at the end of the academic year (April 2020) I was going to exhibit the works created from my experience while visiting Puerto Rico. Due to persistent earthquakes, and the risk they pose to the Sacred community, my exhibition was postponed, later with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, new works produced under the title A Place of Encouragement and Birth moved to a platform online.

Isla del Encanto, 18 x 24, 2020

This would be my first opportunity to exhibit in the Caribbean and deepen my relationship with my birthplace, Puerto Rico, Isla del Encanto (the enchanted island). Therefore, I have titled the exhibition, Place of Breath and Birth. The intention of this exhibition is to empower my five-year-old self. To give her the strength to fight for herself and her language. I was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and grew up in Arlington, Virginia. My first language was Spanish, but when I was five years old I came home one day from school, and I told my mother: I no longer spoke Spanish. Thereafter, I only responded to my mother who speaks Spanish / English in English.

Elemental: Tierra, Aire, Agua, Fuego, 18 x 24, 2020

Later, I came to understand that I gave up my Spanish language, a critical part of my cultural identity, in order to "adapt" to a version of myself that could possibly match the prescribed box that others had for a brown-skinned girl like me. At the time, we lived on the US mainland, and we lived in an area where there were few people who looked like me and spoke Spanish. Although over time, the insults stopped; Micro-assaults, callous questions, assumptions, and judgments persisted. Throughout this life, time and time again, I have had to choose to identify with my brown /black color over the other cultural ties that unite other Spanish speakers with their culture.

Tendedero, Comunidad y Energía Eterna, 18 x 24, 202

Aunque, mi narrativa personal será el foco principal de estas obras de arte; Continuaré contextualizando la obra de arte dentro de los hilos políticos, socioeconómicos y ambientales que definen y a menudo se utilizan para controlar, alienar o maltratar a los puertorriqueños en general y a los afro-puertorriqueños en particular. Además, mi obra de arte trata sobre las intersecciones de la feminidad, el patriarcado, el hibridismo y el americanismo. En última instancia, espero que esta narrativa y esta obra de arte den voz a otros que caminan en tonos marrones, que respiran dentro de una forma femenina y que no se ajustan a las normas ... pero son audaces y orgullosos.

Botánica del Amor, Autorreflexión y Espiritualidad, 18 x 24, 2020