Carved wood, branches, wax, jute thread, and basket elements
Bird that Flies Over America is based on Indigenous stories from the Amazon basin. The work explores the idea that shamans communicate through birds. To construct this intricate sculpture, the artist bound together irregular branches using jute, sealed them with wax, dirt, and ash, then affixed them to a cross-shaped wooden framework. Elso also made straps so that the sculpture can be worn. The flying suit functions as both a self-portrait and a vehicle for exploring popular myths that speak to the fusion of human and animal forms, the transcendence of earthly and spiritual realms, and the quest for unity across the Americas.
2024
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500 Years
Gallery 208In 1992, the K’iche’ Guatemalan activist Rigoberta Menchú was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. She called it “one of the greatest conquests in the struggle for peace, for human rights, and for the rights of the Indigenous people, who, for five hundred years, have been split, fragmented, as well as the victims of genocides, repression, and discrimination.
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