Tania Bruguera

b. Havana, Cuba, 1968; resides in Havana, Cuba and Chicago, Illinois, United States

Nostalgia, From the Series "Memoria de la postguerra" (Postwar Memories)

1997

Fabric and hair on heavy paper laid on panel

 

Tania Bruguera graduated from the Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA) in Havana and is the founder of Cátedra Arte de Conducta (Behavior Art School). She is internationally celebrated for her compelling performances and for using art as a tool for social awareness and change, advocating for a work methodology in the intersection of pedagogy, art, and politics. Her artivism (using art as a means for social change) makes her a target of the repressive apparatus of the Cuban government. 

 

Nostalgia is a collaborative piece in which the hair of Cubans was collected, sheathed in cloth, then sewn into a tapestry with the design of the Cuban flag. Some citizens who donated their hair also assisted in the laborious stitching, reprising the role of the women who gathered in secrecy to sew rebel flags―symbols of liberation during the Cuban War of Independence.

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*This piece was included in the exhibition section titled "The Prophet's Dream."