ABOUT EARTHLY MIRAGE (2010-2021):
Earthly Mirage is a survey spanning 10 years of artistic production by queer, Latinx artist Hoesy Corona. Through the examination of scapegoating, othering, fear of death, white supremacy, xenophobia and the climate crisis this exhibition poetically considers what it means to be a queer Latinx immigrant in a place where there are few. The presented works encompass installation, performance, and video. The exhibition includes the following 5 ongoing bodies of work developed between 2010 and 2021: The Nobodies (2010-2020); Mother Death Life Mama (2012- present); Scapegoats (2012-present); White Constructions (2015-present); and Climate Immigrants (2017-present).
ABOUT EACH BODY OF WORK:
CLIMATE IMMIGRANTS: (xenophobia, climate crisis; immigration; travel; bodies in movement) Climate Immigrants (2017-Present) is an ongoing site specific installation and performance that considers the impending plight of climate induced global migration and its effects on people of color. In it the performers wear “Climate Ponchos” adorned with images depicting the archetype of the “traveler”. The series expands upon issues of immigration by creating a framework that implicates everyone and not just a select group, addressing one of the most pressing topics of our time: climate- triggered immigration in relation to US-centric xenophobia.
THE NOBODIES: (otherness; invisibility; presence; uncanny)
The Nobodies (2010-Present), is an ongoing fictional and poetic story documenting the journeys of displaced immigrants and marginalized peoples. Through the use of public performance, sculptural garments, and poetry the artist creates other-worldly experiences for the viewer while questioning the social constructions that govern and objectify personhood. The series revels in the simultaneous visibility and invisibility that the garments bring to the wearer to explore the act of “nobodying.” Audience members are invited to participate in the performance through roles that are complicit in the subjugation of “somebody” into “nobody.”
SCAPEGOATS: (blame, shame, scapegoating; personal bias)
Scapegoats (2013-Present), is a meditative and poetic sculptural exploration of the indoctrination into societal othering as a form of devoted practice. In it, the deity is the Scapegoat, a figurative representation of blame and shame as internalized acts and subconscious thought processes that sacrifice individuals within a community for their queer existences. In Scapegoats the deity is shown relaxed in a safe environment that re-envisions a triumphant ending for the social castaways.
MOTHER DEATH LIFE MAMA: (life; death; fear; the unknown; mother nature; mother)
Mother Death Life Mama (2012-Present), is an ongoing performance and sculptural series that considers our human mortality. The series addresses our fear of the unknown by highlighting our fraught relationship with mother nature.
WHITE CONSTRUCTIONS: (white supremacy, fake realities; construction/de-constructions; visible/ invisible)
White Constructions (2015-Present) considers the arbitrary and deliberate construction of race in the United States and its negative effects on black and brown people. The series analyzes race as a deliberate social construct created by those in power to subjugate non-white people while critiquing the influential construction and deconstruction of language and its impact on human experiences. The symbolic and imaginary constructs in White Constructions challenge the viewer to reconsider and reconstruct their personal and political relationship to race and how it informs their interactions with others.
Artist BIO:
Hoesy Corona (Baltimore, MD) is a queer Latinx artist living and working in the United States. He makes work across a variety of media spanning installation, performance, and video. He creates fabulated narratives centering marginalized individuals in society by exploring what it means to be a queer Latinx immigrant in a place where there are few. He choreographs large scale performances and installations that oftentimes confront and delight viewers with some of the most pressing issues of our time. Reoccurring themes of queerness, race/class/gender, nature, isolation, celebration, and the climate crisis are present throughout his work. Hoesy has exhibited widely in galleries, museums, and public spaces in the US and abroad. His colorful sculptural works fitted to the human body have been presented at The Hirshhorn Museum, The Watermill Center, The Baltimore Museum of Art, Transformer DC, The Walters Art Museum, OK Contemporary, Gilcrease Museum, and at The Kennedy Center. His research has been supported by various regional and national grants including The MAP Fund, The Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Award, The Ruby’s Artist Grant, Baker Artist Award, and The Andy Warhol Foundation Grit Fund Grant among others. He has completed fellowships at Halcyon Arts Lab and the Tulsa Artist Fellowship. In recent years Hoesy has been in residence at The Nicholson Project’s Artist Residency, Ox-Box School of Art, Washington College Kohl Gallery Residency, and The Merriweather District Artist in Residence. In 2020 he was the recipient of The Municipal Art Society of Baltimore Artist Travel Prize.
