Penumbras para Apambichao 5, 2022 Textile sourced from men’s Palm Beach suits (1920s and 1950–70s), paper, paint, cardboard, ink, and mixed media
Cut pieces of fabric serve as surrogates for historical and emotional trauma in several works in this gallery, including Yanira Collardo’s Penumbras para Apambichao 5. This vertical, portal-like piece is based on the artist’s research of the Apambichao music of the Dominican Republic and how it offered a slower version of cumbia for the North American soldiers who were stationed on the island in the 1950s. These soldiers wore white uniforms within these dancehalls, cut fragments of which are included in Collardo’s artwork. She layers these pieces of fabric with others that reference the cultural mixing that structure Dominican identity, which include African, Islamic, Chinese, and European sources.