Contemporary art over the last several years has shifted to incorporate multimedia artworks as a way to explore singular themes through various approaches. Presence, curated by Sarah Roberts, best exemplifies this as it pairs the display of jewelry by Alejandra Salinas Pérez and Dongyi Wu with photographs of models and the artists wearing the artwork. Both artists explore personal and global narratives through their jewelry.
Alejandra Salinas Pérez's Border Choker, made of of copper and brass. Image courtsey of artist.
Salinas Pérez’s brass and copper Border Choker (2017) is arranged as the first work to be experienced when walking in from the main doors at Palmetto Center. The metal forms into a square, becoming a miniaturized fencing with 13 pickets and two end posts for each side. The work is displayed as closed, and if not looking carefully, the hinge on one corner could be overlooked. On the wall next to the display of the necklace, is a photograph of the artist herself wearing Border Choker against a black background. Her face is in a side profile as she looks up and beyond the framing of the image.
Alejandra Salinas Pérez wearing Border Choker. Image courtsey of artist.
The style of the necklace recalls the tightly banded chokers of the 1990s. Salinas Pérez doesn’t just stylize the necklace, but politicizes it by referencing issues of immigration along the U.S.-Mexico border with the title. She was born in the U.S. and brought up in Monterrey, Mexico, with dual cultures and identities. Border Choker is a symbol of barriers, and suffocates the wearer. Yet, when paired with the photograph, it becomes an emblem of resilience as Salinas Pérez performs in front of the photograph. She purposefully looks beyond the gloomy setting to something outside the frame- she seeks and sees hope.
Dongyi Wu's Passerby5 No. 17 (necklace) . Image courtsey of artist.
Wu’s jewelry practice is also informed by her global travels and identity, focusing more on upcycled aesthetics. In Passerby5 No. 17 (necklace) (2021), she combines faux fur, fabric, plastic, a rubber cord, wax thread, cotton thread, and sewing thread into a stylish accessory of cool grays and blues. Passerby5 No. 17 (necklace) is displayed next to a photograph of Wu wearing Passeryby5 No., 9 (brooch) (2020) that she pairs with a blue beret, white blouse, a long sleeve, blue striped blue shirt covering her arms and a second blue striped shirt draped over her shoulders and tied at her navel. The glossiness of the print with the combination of blue items Wu wears in front of a solid gray background, I feel like I’m flipping through the pages of a fashion magazine. It emphasizes her interest in aesthetic style as she combines various media into a finished work.
Dongyi Wu's self-portrait wearing Passeryby5 No., 9 (brooch). Image courtsey of artist.
With no curator statement available, I was left to interpret my own understanding of “presence” in the work of Salinas Pérez and Wu. The act of wearing jewelry has a physicality that grounds oneself in a moment of unease. Salinas Pérez's work leaves me uncomfortable (in a good way); I’m faced with a reality beyond my own as the artist explores personal and political narratives that she experiences as a Mexican-American. Wu’s materials combined with an aesthetic style aligns with this notion of “calming,” especially when considering her concern for the sensation of touch when engaged with her work. Both tap into the performative nature of jewelry to explore two distinctively different interests as a way to be present.
Presence is open to the public at the Palmetto Center for the Arts at Northwest Vista College until December 13.
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