With members of Teatro Visión: Ugho Badú, América Barcenas, María Teresa Barcenas, Matt Casey, Alexia Díaz, Veronica Eldredge, Ronald Feichtmeir, José Chuy Hernández, Natalie Herrera, Isabel Hertel, Samanta Hertel, Brissa Ibarra, Rojana Ibarra, Nicole Machuca, Citlali X. Oritz, Carolina Pérez, Yasmin Rivero, Marissa Torres, María Vargas, and Vitalina Wainzinger. Audio. 2021
From the San José Museum of Art website:
Interdisciplinary artist Aislinn Thomas works through creative possibilities for accessibility, approaching disability as a valuable and generative disruption to mainstream culture. Her experimental approaches are artworks in themselves. As part of the exhibition Our whole, unruly selves, Thomas was invited to create a sound work of experimental, visual descriptions for artworks on view in the galleries. Such descriptions, usually intended to make visual information audially accessible to people who cannot fully or easily see, can also poetically expand beyond the limits of the visual.
For As I am and as I become, Thomas collaborated with an intergenerational group of twenty contributors from Teatro Visión, San José’s Latinx theater company. She asked each participant to assume a first-person voice and imagine the subject of each painting, sculpture, or photograph as a living entity with its own thoughts and experiences. By weaving together varied perspectives for each work, these poetic descriptions conjure the depth of inner lives and offer possibilities for creative approaches to access.
The sound work can be listened to through a SoundCloud widget on the San José Museum of Art website or directly on SoundCloud.
Sincere thanks to the many people who so generously contributed to this project.
As I am and as I become was created in collaboration with Teatro Visión. Project contributors include Ugho Badú, América Barcenas, María Teresa Barcenas, Matt Casey, Alexia Díaz, Veronica Eldredge, Ronald Feichtmeir, José Chuy Hernández, Natalie Herrera, Isabel Hertel, Samanta Hertel, Brissa Ibarra, Rojana Ibarra, Nicole Machuca, Citlali X. Oritz, Carolina Pérez, Yasmin Rivero, Marissa Torres, María Vargas, and Vitalina Wainzinger.
This project was commissioned by the San José Museum of Art, and curated by Lauren Schell Dickens. Consultation by Ramya Amuthan. Project Coordination by Leigh Henderson, Robin Treen and Lauren Schell Dickens. Recording by Robin Treen, Lauren Schell Dickens, and Jeff Bordana. Artwork coordination by Anamarie Alongi, Aron Lee, and Dan Becker. Translation and Spanish-language consultation by Juanita Berber-Acosta, and Audio Engineering by Nathan Saliwonchyk