LILLIAM NIEVES

(Bayamón, Puerto Rico, 1975)

To be a disaster, to be a diaspora, to be a state, to be an island, to be Puerto Rican, 2018

Video performance – 14:28 minutes

MAB’s permanent collection (Donation from the artist)

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The artist uses her body to allude to the homeland as part of a sacred ritual and the dualities that Puerto Ricans face in their political condition. She wears a swimsuit top with insignia representing the flags of Puerto Rico and the United States. She vigorously begins to apply a thick number 50 sunscreen to her skin that seems to paint it white. The color of the cream disappears, which forces her to repeat the action over and over again.

The artist comments that:

It would be safe to evaluate that in the creative process of the diaspora, both the work of art and the literary work are marked by the experiences of those who find themselves in the intermediate zone. I want to find the homeland as a ritual, without giving up being Puerto Rican, feeling like the diaspora, without being one. Being part of the United States without being (although on the island they believe they live in a state) part of it. Keep feeling the Caribbean even though it freezes my bones.