Patrica Belli / Pernod Ricard Fellowship 2019
Patricia Belli, born in Nicaragua in 1964, is a visual artist who uses diverse media, with an emphasis on the crossing of the mechanical with the natural to generate meanings about balance. Her work is dedicated to exploring the haptic perception of the public and from there, reflections linked to subjectivity, imbalance, chaos and harmony. In 1986, she completed a BA in visual arts at Loyola University of the South, in New Orleans. Ten years later, she obtained a degree in Arts and Letters from UCA, Managua. Patricia Belli subsequently won a Fulbright scholarship to pursue a Master of Fine Arts at the San Francisco Art Institute, which concluded in 2001. Upon returning to Nicaragua in 2001, she founded the Space for Artistic Research and Reflection, EspIRA, an organization for the sensitive and critical formation of emerging artists which has had a decisive influence on the present and future of the Central American youth. Belli exhibits regularly in Central America, South America, the United States and Europe. A retrospective anthological exhibition, by curator Miguel López, has traveled to San José, Managua and Guatemala City between 2016 and 2017.
With the aid of Pernod Ricard Fellowship, Patricia Belli will be creating sound sculptures, which will explore the idea of social unrest. She aims to convey the crossover of the political and the psychological via mechanical systems. From hurricans to revolutions, Patricia Belli will be researching the universe and its laws. Balance, instability, and power will be investigated through ceramic sculptures and their precarious movement; such movements will in turn activate recordings of documentary sounds. Patricia Belli’s project is inspired by Nicuaraguan protestors, making up 70% of the population, being massacres by the government for defending their civil liberties. Her latest work, Desequilibradas, is an installation made up of 12 bobo-doll-upside-down-heads on the ground, which, when kicked by the public, return to their original position, releasing sounds associated with current Nicaraguan social unrest. During her stay at Villa Vassilieff – Pernod Ricard Fellowship, Patricia Belli will focus on improving her sound recording and editing skills, as well as mastering working with ecofriendly materials, such as ceramics.
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