Carlos Martiel (born 1989) is a Cuban contemporary installation and

performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

ist.

Early life and education

Carlos Martiel was born in 1989 in

Havana, Cuba Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center. He graduated from Cuba's

Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes "San Alejandro" Academia Nacional de Bellas Artes San Alejandro, is the oldest and most prestigious fine arts school in Cuba. It is also known as Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes "San Alejandro", Academia San Alejandro, or San Alejandro Academy. The school is lo ...

in 2009. In addition, he studied in the Cátedra Arte de Conducta (Behavior Art School) under

Tania Bruguera Tania Bruguera (born 1968 in Havana, Cuba) is a Cuban artist and activist who focuses on installation and performance art. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts where she works as head of media and performance at Harvard University. Bruguera has ...

from 2008 to 2010. Martiel lives and works in both Havana and

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. Martiel identifies as

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...

and

Afro-Latinx Black Hispanic and Latino Americans, also called Afro-Hispanics, Afro-Latinos, Black Hispanics, or Black Latinos, are classified by the United States Census Bureau, Office of Management and Budget, and other U.S. government agencies as Black ...

, with Haitian and Jamaican ancestry. He has noted that his decision to become an artist is directly influenced by these identities, stating, "My art is absolutely political. I couldn't think of doing anything else because I was born in Cuba in the 1990s, because I am Black, because I have immigrant Haitian and Jamaican ancestry, because I am currently an immigrant, because I am queer, and because my art is the way I have found to express myself on the socio-political issues that not only affect my life, but those of others as well."

Career

Martiel's work can be characterized as

endurance art Endurance art is a kind of performance art involving some form of hardship, such as pain, solitude or exhaustion. Performances that focus on the passage of long periods of time are also known as durational art or durational performances. Human ...

. His artistic practice uses his own body, often nude, in order to draw attention to the embodied experience of Blackness under systems of violence and exploitation. In his durational performances, Martiel frequently subjects himself to physical pain and

self-harm Self-harm refers to intentional behaviors that cause harm to oneself. This is most commonly regarded as direct injury of one's own skin tissues, usually without suicidal intention. Other terms such as cutting, self-abuse, self-injury, and s ...

. This includes piercing his skin with a miniature flagpole flying an

American flag The national flag of the United States, often referred to as the American flag or the U.S. flag, consists of thirteen horizontal Bar (heraldry), stripes, Variation of the field, alternating red and white, with a blue rectangle in the Canton ( ...

, having a pest exterminator spray his body with

insecticide Insecticides are pesticides used to kill insects. They include ovicides and larvicides used against insect eggs and larvae, respectively. The major use of insecticides is in agriculture, but they are also used in home and garden settings, i ...

, compressing his legs under the weight of a pear-tree trunk, stitching the collar of a blue shirt to the skin around his neck, and having a piece of his own skin surgically removed and preserved in a gold medal that he had designed. Thematically, his works explore

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

and

racialization Racialization or ethnicization is a sociological concept used to describe the intent and processes by which Ethnic group, ethnic or Race (human classification), racial identities are systematically constructed within a society. Constructs for ra ...

gender Gender is the range of social, psychological, cultural, and behavioral aspects of being a man (or boy), woman (or girl), or third gender. Although gender often corresponds to sex, a transgender person may identify with a gender other tha ...

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as Permanent residency, permanent residents. Commuting, Commuter ...

, and the legacy of

European colonialism The phenomenon of colonization is one that stretches around the globe and across time. Ancient and medieval colonialism was practiced by various civilizations such as the Phoenicians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Han Chinese, and Ar ...

in the United States. Martiel's works are included in the collections of the

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue between 88th and 89th Street (Manhattan), 89th Streets on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It hosts a permanent coll ...

, the

Pérez Art Museum Miami Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM)—officially known as the Jorge M. Pérez Art Museum of Miami-Dade County—is a contemporary art museum that relocated in 2013 to the Maurice A. Ferré Park in Downtown Miami, Florida. Founded in 1984 as the Cent ...

, and the

Museum of Modern Art, Rio de Janeiro The Museum of Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro (, MAM) is a museum located in northeastern Flamengo Park, in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

. His awards include a grant from the Franklin Furnace Fund (2016), a Grants & Commissions Program Award from the Cisneros Fontanals Foundation (2014), and the

Arte Laguna Prize Arte Laguna Prize is an international art and design competition which takes place in Venice (Italy) since 2006 and it is aimed at promoting and enhancing contemporary art. There are different contest sections: painting, sculpture and instal ...

(2013). In 2021, he received a Latinx Art Fellowship from the

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a $25,000 (about $550,000 in 2023) gift from Edsel Ford. ...

Mellon Foundation The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, commonly known as the Mellon Foundation, is a New York City-based private foundation with wealth accumulated by Andrew Mellon of the Mellon family of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is the product of the 1969 merger ...

, and U.S. Latinx Art Forum. In 2023, he became the first winner of the Maestro Dobel Latinx Art Prize by the Museo del Barrio. A designation awarding him a $50,000 grant and an exhibition at the Museo del Barrio, whose mission is to bring awareness and amplify the voices of underrepresented Latinx artists.

Significant works

In his performance of ''Simiente'' (2014), Martiel presented his naked body covered in human blood of Mexican, Estonian, Italian, Venezuelan, English, and South Korean immigrants in the fetal position with hands in a prayer-like position. Similarly, Martiel performed ''South Body'' (2019) naked, piercing his right shoulder with a small American flag piercing. These performances raise questions about the treatment of minorities in eurocentric societies, particularly immigrants and Afro-Cubans like himself. In his performance of ''Award Martiel, Carlos (2014)'', Martiel underwent a surgical procedure. Doctor Flor Mayoral, a professor in the Department of Dermatology and Cutaneous Surgery at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, performed the surgery and cleaned the piece of skin of any excess fat. After airdrying and dehydration, the specimen was placed inside a gold medal resembling those given to certain people by the Cuban government by art conservator, Flavia Perugini. In this piece, Martiel draws on the experience and lack of representation of Afro-Cubans in post-revolutionary Cuba. During ''Dictadura'' (2015)'','' Martiel was held down by a neck brace at the foot of a flagpole upon while the flags of greater than 20 Latin American and Caribbean nations were hoisted for the duration of an hour, drawing attention to totalitarianism and U.S. military imperialism in those countries.

Performances and exhibitions

* ''Arquitectura para un cuerpo'',

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is a museum of American art in Bentonville, Arkansas. The museum, founded by Alice Walton and designed by Moshe Safdie, officially opened on 11 November 2011. It offers free public admission. Overview ...

(2022) * ''Monumento II,'' Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2021) * ''Black Bodies – White Lies'', K Contemporary, Denver (2020) * ''Afro Syncretic'' roup exhibition King Juan Carlos I Center, New York University (2020) * Sabor a Lagrimas,

Sharjah Biennial The Sharjah Biennial is a large-scale contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in the city of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. The first Sharjah Biennial took place in 1993, and was organized by the Sharjah Department of Cu ...

14, United Arab Emirates (2019) * Gente de color (People of Color), Fourteenth Cuenca Biennial, Cuenca, Ecuador (2018) * ''Intruder (America)'', AC Institute, New York (2018) * ''América'', Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA Performance Art Festival,

Museum of Latin American Art The Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA) was founded by Dr. Robert Gumbiner in 1996 in Long Beach, California, United States, and serves the greater Los Angeles area. MOLAA is the only museum in the United States dedicated to modern and contemp ...

, Long Beach (2018) * ''Mediterráneo'', 57th

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

(2017) * ''CUBA: Tatuare la storia'' roup exhibition

Padiglione d'Arte Contemporanea The Padiglione d'Arte Contemporanea or PAC is a List of contemporary art museums, museum of contemporary art in Milan, Italy. It is on via Palestro, next to the Galleria d'Arte Moderna (Milan), Galleria d'Arte Moderna, and across from the Giardin ...

, Palermo, Italy (2016) * ''We the People'', Biennale Internationale de Casablanca, Hassan II Mosque, Morocco (2016) * ''Intersección'', Museo de Arte Contemporáneo del Zulia (MACZUL), Maracaibo, Venezuela (2016) * 30th Anniversary

Havana Biennial The Bienal de La Habana was a traditional Latin, Caribbean event, originated in Havana, Havana, Cuba, that aims to raise awareness to promote contemporary art and giving priority to Latin Americans, Latin-American and Caribbean artists. The eve ...

, Wilfredo Lam Center of Contemporary Art (2014) * ''Condecoración Martiel, Carlos'', Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (2014) * La Otra Bienal de Arte, Video Art of Central America and the Caribbean, La Macarena, Bogota, Colombia (2013) * ''Vanishing Point,'' Nitch Museum, Naples, Italy (2013) * ''Prodigal Son'', Witch House, Liverpool, UK (2010) Source:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martiel, Carlos Cuban performance artists 1989 births Living people