This site-specific installation makes use of the ephemera of the artist’s grandparents’ lives. Using the memoirs of their grandfather, which he spent years writing before he died, and the miscellaneous objects of his life with the artist’s grandmother, this work incorporates their photos, writings, certificates, family documents, and paintings, etc. alongside the artist’s own photos, writing, research, and drawings. This archive tells the story of family with lore that reaches back in time (and may or may not be true), details moments of history that signify the complex nature of the relationship between the Puerto Rican and American identity and stretches into the present and an unknowable future with an earnest desire to celebrate family. Over the duration of the exhibition, the work will grow through ongoing research, investigation, interviews, and actions as well as through activations initiated through programming and organized visits from others to the installation.
Artist Bio
Jessica Caldas (b. 1986, Jacksonville, FL) is a Puerto Rican American, Florida and Georgia based artist. Her work connects personal and community narratives, usually centered on the experiences of women and women identifying folks, to larger themes and social issues through bodily, multidisciplinary works. In 2023 she completed the Working Artist Prize Fellowship at MOCA GA and was an Atlanta Artadia Awardee. Her work has been shown at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, GA, The Art & History Museums of Maitland, FL, CICA Museum in Incheon, South Korea and is included in the collections of Kilpatrick Townsend, The City of Atlanta Office of Cultural Affairs, MOCA GA, and the Kyoto International Community House.
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