Conversations | Premiere Artist Talk: María Magdalena Campos-Pons
Art Basel Miami Beach 2023, December 7
María Magdalena Campos-Pons discusses her influential career as an artist and teacher with Franklin Sirmans, Director of the Pérez Art Museum Miami, and Crystal Williams, President of the Rhode Island School of Design. Exploring her multimedia practice, which considers how history, memory, gender, and religion inform personal identity, they chart Campos-Pons’s trajectory over the last 4 decades, from her youth in Cuba to her acclaimed retrospective at the Brooklyn Museum and US tour 2023- 2025.
María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Cornelius Vanderbilt Endowed Chair Professor of Fine Arts, Nashville
Franklin Sirmans, Director, Pérez Art Museum Miami, Miami
Moderator: Crystal Williams, President, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence
Cuban-born artist María Magdalena Campos-Pons, now residing in Nashville, Tennessee, is a significant presence on the international art scene. Her practice, blending personal narratives with cultural exploration, spans photography, performance, and video, delving into themes of identity and diaspora. Campos-Pons played a crucial role in introducing Afro-Cuban perspectives, challenging both artistic norms and societal narratives. In the absence of a prominent feminist movement in Cuba, she used her art to spotlight issues of sexuality, women’s roles, and their representation in art history.
Franklin Sirmans is Director of the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM). Prior to his appointment in Miami, he was the department head and curator of contemporary art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2010-2015) and Head of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Menil Collection, Houston (2006-2010).
Crystal Williams believes that education, art and design, and commitments to equity and justice are essential to transforming our society. An award-winning poet and essayist, currently serving as the 18th president of the Rhode Island School of Design, Williams has published four collections of poetry and is the recipient of several artistic honors. The daughter of an educator and a musician, Williams holds a BA from New York University and an MFA from Cornell University.
The Art Basel Miami Beach 2023 Conversations program was curated by Emily Butler.
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