Ocultismo y barro presents artworks made with or about clay that embody the medium’s mystical qualities. The title invokes occultism, the broadest sense of supernatural beliefs and spiritual practices, which contrast the scope of science and religion imposed on the Caribbean and Latin America through western imperialism. The artists in the exhibition speak to both the mysticism involved in transforming clay into art and the rendering of ancestral influences across the Americas, often in dialogue with the contemporary mythology of pop cultural iconography.
Barro has been used as a material in Latin America and the Caribbean for over 10,000 years to incarnate spirituality. Through effigies, ceremonial vessels, utilitarian objects, and dwellings, it has persisted as a material known for its malleability, durability, and availability. However, its cultural value has been largely contested. Clay objects from Latin America and the Caribbean have been disregarded in the art sphere as archeological relics that are often only discussed ethnographically. Occultism, as a lens, has additionally been dismissed by many critics for its emphasis on the power of the individual. However, understanding the fuerza of these artists’ works—personal, material, and mystical—through occultism underscores their spiritual potential and disrupts cyclical depracations of clay into craft or artifact.
