From Rome to Purchase: Yto Barrada: The Dye Garden
On view for the first time in the United States at the Neuberger Museum September 25-December 22, 2019
How does one transmit political courage? Yto Barrada asks.
Barrada has long investigated gestures and grammar of resistance to structures of power and control. Says Barrada: “All my work explores strategies of survival – of resistance and constraint [which can be] oppression or domination…The central question remains, disobedience and insurrection. How does one acquire and transmit political courage?” Barrada’s interest in resistance is amplified by her explorations of cultural concerns and historical accounts, with a focus on Morocco. “It both personal and political,” notes Helaine Posner, Chief Curator at the Neuberger Museum of Art, “[and] is informed by postcolonial thought, subaltern histories, and society’s ‘hidden transcripts,’ which are the secret discourse of the powerless, spoken behind the back of the powerful.”
This presentation of Yto Barrada: The Dye Garden is co-organized by the Neuberger Museum of Art and the American Academy in Rome, and is co-curated by Ms. Posner and Peter Benson Miller, Curator and former Andrew Heiskell Arts Director at the Academy. The exhibition will be accompanied by a co-published catalogue with contributions by the curators and by artist Yto Barrada. Generous support for the Roy R. Neuberger Prize has been provided by Jim Neuberger and Helen Stambler Neuberger.
The title of the show relates to Barrada’s interest in the geology and botany of North Africa in the context of the colonial and postcolonial eras; and her explorations – the foraging and extraction of natural pigments, and dyeing of fabric. More specifically, it relates to the fact that the artist is planting an actual dye garden in Tangier. Six of her recent hand-dyed and -sewn textile works are patterned on (and re-appropriate the forms and colors of) Frank Stella’s series of fluorescent striped paintings from 1964-1965 that were inspired by the geometric forms and brilliant hues of Arabic tiles that he saw during his honeymoon in Morocco, at a time when he sought inspiration and self-discovery in North Africa. The striped patterns refer to the fabrics worn by Moroccan farm workers (red and white stripes are a symbol of Tangier) and those in works by painters Mohamed Chebaa, Farid Belkahia, and Mohammed Melehi, artists who pioneered a North African modernist abstraction and were founders of the Casablanca School in the 1960s. Barrada’s re-appropriation of Stella’s work serves as a witty feminist riff on modernist abstraction, and is a pointed contemporary critique of the orientalist tradition.
Mr. Miller notes that the fabrication of textiles, which the artist collects, and the dyes used to color them allow her to weave together the interests and anecdotes of her family with intertwined colonial histories and vernacular practices: “Many of Barrada’s projects highlight ‘women’s work’ in the broadest sense. Far from insisting on any kind of simple dichotomy of gender, Barrada proposes a paradigm shift in a field in which the discourse remains dominated by men. Her subtle use of these sources is leavened by playfulness, a wry sense of humor, and an inventive use of children’s games and toys – the basic syntax of idea formation.”
Yto Barrada, who was born in Paris and raised in Tangier, had her first solo exhibition in 2003 at the Galerie Polaris, Paris. Since then, her work has been featured in exhibitions at the Jeu de Paume, Paris (2006); Venice Biennale (2007, 2011); and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2009), among other venues. In 2011, she received Deutsche Bank’s Artist of the Year Award. According to Ms. Posner, “Barrada’s wide-ranging intelligence and global perspective inform her work in a variety of media including photography, film, sculpture, and hand-dyed textiles. She creates aesthetically compelling images and objects and tackles serious sociopolitical and cultural issues with humor and wit.” Barrada now lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
The following events are presented in conjunction with the exhibition:
Saturday, September 21, 5:00-7:30pm
2019 Roy R. Neuberger Prize Award Presentation and Reception
A public ceremony to present the 2019 Roy R. Neuberger Award to recipient Yto Barrada. Wine and hors d’oeuvres reception to follow.
Free and open to the public. Registration requested.
Tuesday, October 22, 6:30-8:00pm
In Conversation: Yto Barrada and Sanford Biggers
at the Museum of Arts and Design, Columbus Circle, Manhattan
Hosted by the American Academy in Rome and the Neuberger Museum of Art, this panel offers an engaging dialogue about the role of contemporary art in sparking conversations about compelling social issues. Participants: 2019 Neuberger Prize Award recipient Yto Barrada, interdisciplinary artist Sanford Biggers, Neuberger Museum Chief Curator Helaine Posner, and Peter Benson Miller, Curator and former Andrew Heiskell Arts Director at the American Academy of Rome.
Wednesday, October 30, 4:30 – 7:00pm
Fall Exhibition Opening Reception
A special evening to share with friends from the community and Purchase College campus. Browse the galleries filled with incredible works from the fall 2019 exhibitions and engage in conversation with artists, curators, and fellow art lovers. There also are light refreshments and live music.
Free with museum admission. No registration required.
Friday, December 6, 12:30-2:00pm
Bring your own lunch and, in the first 30 minutes, socialize with other art lovers. Then, join a curator for an hour-long tour of Yto Barrada: The Dye Garden
Free with museum admission. Reservations requested.
The Neuberger Museum of Art opened on the campus of Purchase College, State University of New York, in 1974 with a core collection donated by Roy R. Neuberger, one of the greatest private collectors, philanthropists, and arts advocates of the twentieth century. Today, critically acclaimed exhibitions, tours, lectures, and interactive programs for patrons of all ages make the Neuberger a center of teaching and learning for all stages of life.