Viñales(Chasm)

Label TextFernández’s work interrogates landscape as a genre, challenging her audience to consider the interconnectedness of seemingly distant places and narratives. Viñales (Chasm) is part of a larger series inspired by the rural landscape of the Viñales Valley in Cuba, where Fernández’s family is from. The caves of the Viñales Valley were once occupied by the Taíno (one of the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean) and were later used as a place of refuge for Maroons, runaway slaves, who fled from surrounding plantations to freedom. The luminous color of the work is inspired by malachite rocks from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which bear similarity to the vibrant green of the Viñales Valley. Through her references to this geological material and mosaic technique, Fernández posits a link between African and Cuban experiences of place, honoring the integral role enslaved Africans played in shaping Caribbean culture.

DimensionsOverall: 72 × 144 × 1 1/2 in. (182.9 × 365.8 × 3.8 cm)

Accession Number 2023.47.a-.c

Classificationsceramic

ProvenanceArtist; (Lehmann Maupin Gallery, New York); Des Moines Art Center [purchased frmo the previous, 2023]