ExhibitionSeptember 24, 2021
Carolina Caycedo and David de Rozas: Blessings of Mystery
Through December 3, 2021, the Visual Arts Center (VAC) at The University of Texas at Austin College of Fine Arts presents Carolina Caycedo and David de Rozas' exhibition The Blessings of the Mystery, organized by Ballroom Marfa and curated by: Laura Copelin (director) and Daisy Nam.
Delving into the multidisciplinary practice of Carolina Caycedo and David de Rozas, The Blessings of the Mystery examines themes of environmental activism, encounters between history and memory, indigenous rights, and the development and dissemination of knowledge. The exhibition articulates the complicated and layered histories, connections, and tensions in West Texas through video, sculpture, installation, collage, and drawing. At its center is "The Teaching of the Hands" (2020), a single-channel video that chronicles the region's complex histories of colonization, migration, and ecological precarity from the perspective of Juan Mancias, chairman of the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas. The work combines observational and experimental documentaries with oral histories, reenactments, archival footage, and documents. The video narrative emerges from the land where both indigenous and colonizer knowledge has historically been produced. Weaving scenes from the present to 4,000 years in the past, "The Teaching of the Hands" highlights environmental memories and awareness of these interconnected places throughout Texas. The exhibition also features an installation that incorporates historical and contemporary surveying tools and artifacts used to create plots of land. Suspended from the vaulted ceiling of the VAC in a configuration of wires and cabling, the floating objects that comprise "Measuring the Immeasurable" (2020) reference the region's history of land speculation and rapid land privatization that displaced people, animals and reshaped the landscape.
Alongside the works by Caycedo and de Rozas is a selection of objects drawn from the University's special collections, such as original watercolors produced in the 1930s by artists and amateur archaeologists Forrest and Lula Kirkland, on loan from the Texas Archaeological Research Laboratories. These watercolors document the ancient rock art of the Lower Pecos, captured before many of these works were destroyed by flooding, erosion, or human interaction. Extinct and endangered species of West Texas flora and fauna are also on loan from the Biodiversity Collections and the Billie L. Turner Plant Resource Center at UT Austin.
Delving into the multidisciplinary practice of Carolina Caycedo and David de Rozas, The Blessings of the Mystery examines themes of environmental activism, encounters between history and memory, indigenous rights, and the development and dissemination of knowledge. The exhibition articulates the complicated and layered histories, connections, and tensions in West Texas through video, sculpture, installation, collage, and drawing. At its center is "The Teaching of the Hands" (2020), a single-channel video that chronicles the region's complex histories of colonization, migration, and ecological precarity from the perspective of Juan Mancias, chairman of the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas. The work combines observational and experimental documentaries with oral histories, reenactments, archival footage, and documents. The video narrative emerges from the land where both indigenous and colonizer knowledge has historically been produced. Weaving scenes from the present to 4,000 years in the past, "The Teaching of the Hands" highlights environmental memories and awareness of these interconnected places throughout Texas. The exhibition also features an installation that incorporates historical and contemporary surveying tools and artifacts used to create plots of land. Suspended from the vaulted ceiling of the VAC in a configuration of wires and cabling, the floating objects that comprise "Measuring the Immeasurable" (2020) reference the region's history of land speculation and rapid land privatization that displaced people, animals and reshaped the landscape.
Alongside the works by Caycedo and de Rozas is a selection of objects drawn from the University's special collections, such as original watercolors produced in the 1930s by artists and amateur archaeologists Forrest and Lula Kirkland, on loan from the Texas Archaeological Research Laboratories. These watercolors document the ancient rock art of the Lower Pecos, captured before many of these works were destroyed by flooding, erosion, or human interaction. Extinct and endangered species of West Texas flora and fauna are also on loan from the Biodiversity Collections and the Billie L. Turner Plant Resource Center at UT Austin.
