Hello friends,
I am pleased to invite you to the opening of my solo exhibition this week at Below Grand located in the back gallery.
Kadena- chains of love is Filipina artist, Goldie Poblador’s latest collection of sculptural work that explores the intersection of two subjects deeply exploited by the effects of colonization: the female body and the flower.
Kadena — a word that means “chains” in Filipino, has its root in the Spanish word cadena. This exhibition features sculptural interpretations of the Cadena de amor — a vine like plant with small pink flowers that is widespread in the Philippines and is also found in Southeast Asia, Mexico, Africa and the Caribbean islands. The Cadena de amor, is an invasive weed that destroys the endemic plants within its environment. Yet, it has been cultivated and shipped due to its decorative properties. Poblador often explores how both women and flowers from recovering countries become symbols of beauty for the consumption of the capitalist and male gaze. Her work is an attempt to re-appropriate these stories and own the narrative around them.
Poblador’s main muse for this collection is called Cadena de Amor in the Philippines, a Spanish word meaning “chains of love”. From 1934 to the 1960s, the flower was used as a symbol of the preservation of Filipino womanhood according to moral values imposed by the Catholic, Spanish friars. Poblador’s work exposes the degree to which Filipina women wrestle with agency over their own bodies, captive to imposed moral values around virginity or perceived as objects of sexual desire and violence in Western society.
Through exploring this dichotomy through the lens of the Cadena de Amor, the flower becomes an ally in releasing Filipina women and women of color at large from these chains.
In addition, selected pieces from Fertility Flowers are included in this exhibition. Fertility Flowers is an ongoing series involving an interactive installation of glass, scent and video that uses mythology to address the theme of fertility in the context of the female body. The pieces included in this exhibition from this series focus on the Philippine myth of the Dama de Noche. In this myth a queen is ignored and poorly treated as a result of not being able to produce an heir and is then turned into this flower, which produces one of the strongest and distinct smells that we know today - the night blooming jasmine.
Kadena- chains of love is curated by Mo Kong and Wangui Maina. There will be an opening reception on November 18th from 5 -7 pm at Below Grand located at 53 Orchard st. New York, NY, 10002. Gallery hours are Saturdays 12-5PM and by appointment only. You can contact belowgrand@gmail.com to schedule an appointment or message them on Instagram @belowgrandnyc.
Hope to see you there!
1 Photos by Miggy Poblador
Special thanks to
Caesar Poblador, Ilana Dourado , Joseph Sousa and Sean Maze
Mike, David, Cat and Dana from Brooklyn Glass
and the Below Grand team