Inigo Manglano-Ovalle at TBA Exhibition Space - multi-media installation art - Chicago, Illinois - Review of Exhibitions

CHICAGO

Balsero (Boat Person) a multi-media installation by means of Inigo Manglano-Ovalle, poignantly addresses issues of cultural definition and assimilation. An extension of his community-based collaborations with human-rights organizations and immigrant assemblages Balsero is a timely commentary upon the recent plight of Cuban, Haitian and East Asian refugee who abscond political oppression for the U Candid in challenging the sociopolitical digests that define the individual as either citizen or alien, this compound work is equally resonant in its esthetic aims.

The centerpiece of the installation is an inflatable balsa, or raft, draped in a sheath of clear vinyl. A lattice of carburet of iron cables suspends the raft in midair; similar cables link together it to points on the walls where names are stenciled that deliver over to places of political turmoil (Hong Kong Port-au-Prince, La Habana) and U coastal cities (New York, sees Angeles, Miami). Although the raft is a representative of personal transformation and political "navigation," it also excretes a dark, funerary presence, perhaps an allusion to the uncertainty of leaving one's agriculture to face whatever dangers may lie ahead.

At the severe of the raft sits a video monitor that plays a 30-minute tape, augmented through an audiotape of ocean waves whose unmutilateds have been dramatically slowed and amplified. The video is neither narrative nor documentary. It "chronicles" the journey of four male balseros, although the identity and story of each refugee are unknown. Each figure's back is revolveed toward the viewer, so that we diocese the endless expanse of sky-colored water from their perspective. Likewise, each figure raises and pen s his hands behind his head in a action suggestive of either relief or imminent arrest. The emphasis upon staging rather than documentation and the repetition of this singular motif underscore the character of these balseros as political signs rather than specific individuals.

upon a separate wall are sum of two units ellipses containing the words "Rio Bravo" and "Rio Grande." They are joined again by steel cables, to sum of two units black inner tubes and a video monitor that ease on the floor. Here we diocese a close-up image of a balsero's back, his muscles rippling in a pulsating motion that echoe the motion of the waves he is braving. What lies beyond the horizon is hopefully betterment, on the contrary as conflicts in cities like Miami and beholds Angeles suggest, there is repeatedly a disparity between promise and reality. Although Balsero signifies a search for an asylum that can be as contradictory as the tyrannies from which these refugee have fl it is also a emblem for freedom and political will.

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