Triple opening at Bonnefantenmuseum

Robin de Puy

January 25th, Bonnefantenmuseum Maastricht hosted an outstanding opening of three new exhibitions. In addition, I have also visited the Kahlil Joseph exhibition.

Beating around the bush Episode #5: Old Masters never die.
Beating around the bush is an exhibition programme since 2014, in which the Bonnefantenmuseum is presenting its collection in an investigative way. In episodes, both the fixed values and the 'quiet reserve' of the collection are brought into dialogue with new and proposed acquisitions. This episode has solo presentations by Edward Lipski, Johan Tahon and Helen Verhoeven.

Robin de Puy – Randy
A wonderful portrait of the American boy Randy in the form of an installation that comprises both photo and film.
In 2015 portrait photographer Robin de Puy (1986) travelled across America on a motorcycle. During this trip an intimate portrait emerged in text and image of both herself as of the persons portrayed. In Ely, Nevada she found Randy. He rode past – fast – but in the split second she saw him she knew: De Puy had to know who this boy was. She took his portrait, left the town a few days later, and that was it – at least, that's what it seemed at the time. Back in Amsterdam Randy popped into her mind from time to time - it was impossible to know this boy and leave it at that single image. She looked him up again several times in 2016 and 2017. At the Bonnefantenmuseum Robin de Puy is presenting this portrait of Randy in the form of an installation that comprises both photo and film.

Juliaan Andeweg, Bob Eikelboom en Daniel van Straalen - Making Money For My Friends Making Money For My Friends is a group exhibition of work by Juliaan Andeweg, Bob Eikelboom and Daniel van Straalen. It is a voyage of discovery and an introduction to the work of a new, young generation of artists.

Kahlil Joseph: NEW SUNS  (01.12.2017 - 25.03.2018)
New Suns is Kahlil Josephs first solo exhibition in Europe, showing a selection of his most important films in recent years. Together with these films works will be shown from related artists and friends such as Noah Davis, Faith Davis, Karon Davis, Michelle Blade, Henry Taylor, Arthur Jafa and Saudade Toxosi.

The title New Suns is based on an epigram from a never completed book by the Afro-American science-fiction writer Octavia Butler that spoke very deeply to Joseph, capturing the cosmic tension between optimism and pessimism, and the possibility of actually breaking through this deep psychic impasse into something new, quite wonderfully. www.bonnefanten.nl/en

Àlvaro Laiz Photography

Photographer Àlvaro Laiz travels around the world to document transgender people living in hidden
societies from the nightclubs of Mongolia to the swamps of Venezuela.  By documenting his everyday lives, from crowded underground clubs to the quiet sanctuary of his subjects' private homes Àlvaro examines the realities of living in a society that has little to no tolerance for sexual diversity.

In 2011 he captured stunning imagery of the transgender population living in Mongolia in his series Transmongolian. For Àlvaro Laiz, Transmongolian was only the first step in a long-term project focusing on transgender people in different nomadic societies all over the globe.

For the second part of this project, Wonderland, he spent two years in the swamps of Venezuela photographing one of the last native South American people – the Warao.The Warao consider select individuals neither man or woman – they are called Tida Wena. In contrast to Mongolian society, absolute inclusion of the Tida Wena in this indigenous society dates back to pre-Columbian traditions.

" I began working in Mongolia with transgender people and then I got to know there was another point of view. Some anthropologists call it the “Two Spirits” or Berdache theory. While I was working in Venezuela I came to know an anthropologist specialized in the Warao people – we found a common language in our love for photography. We always think about transgender people as something new and related to the cities (drugs, hiv, etc) and I wanted to change that. "

Yet in the last 50 years, the tribes have become more susceptible to outside influences:

Before the late 20th century, the term berdache was widely used by anthropologists as a generic term to indicate “two-spirit” or transgender individuals. In Native American societies, berdaches played an important role both religiously and economically. They were given specific roles in their religion and were not expected to support their family like a male would, but rather they were required to do some of the women’s work and portray the behaviors and clothing of a woman. Historically, Tida Wena have been well integrated into the life of their tribes, and have often held revered and honored positions within them, but things have changed during the last 50 years.
The Warao tribes are extremely sensitive to the outdoor influence. There are a fundamental fact that is strongly complicating their survival: a few independent investigations indicate that a range in between 40% and 80% of the Warao tribe are infected with HIV, whereas Venezuelan government does not support official numbers. Having HIV [has] become a taboo and many people refuses to receive treatment, and eventually face death to avoid social pressure […] Tida Wena (transgenders) and homosexuals have been often rejected and [are[ accused of being responsible for this pandemic which is devastating the warao people.

Watch the haunting teaser for Wonderland and see more of Laiz’s work.
http://www.alvarolaiz.com


Wonderland Eng from Alvaro Laiz on Vimeo.

Àlvaro Laiz has developed his work between Africa, Asia and South America cooperating with NGO´s and Foundations such us International Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders or World Vision. His photographs have been published in national and international media such us Sunday Times Magazine, Colors Magazine, National Geographic, CNN, Foreign Policy, XL Semanal, EL Pais, Ojo de Pez or Marie Claire.
His work conceives photography as a tool to give civil society in post-conflict zones the chance to be heard, exploring the environment, costumes and traditions of those people at risk of exclusion. Master in Visual Arts at Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca, his work focuses on realities usually ignored by mass media.
Àlvaro Laiz  is also co-founder of ANHUA.
all images www.alvarolaiz.com