Notes for Tomorrow is currently on display at the University of Texas at San Antonio’s Main Gallery. The traveling exhibit contains artworks that were selected by 30 curators from around the globe. The artists are ethnically diverse, and their work points to new realities brought forth by the COVID-19 pandemic. The artworks emphasize that we can tell our own story and break boundaries of the past by engaging in critique. Our identity is shaped not only by culture but also by how we choose to reinterpret and navigate cultural symbols in the present.
Luke Luokun Cheng. “Close friends will see you with colored glasses,” 2018, nylon fabric with vinyl lettering. Courtesy of the artist.
When I entered the gallery, my gaze was immediately drawn to Luke Luokun Cheng’s Close friends will see you with colored glasses. His hengfu (“horizontal scroll”) banner suspends from the ceiling of the gallery. The banner’s bright, bold, white letters juxtapose its red background, as is standard with hengfu banners. The statement, written in Mandarin, exclaims “close friends will see you with colored glasses.” It is a phrase that the artist received from messages on a gay Chinese dating app.
The phrase is intended to be positive, yet, there is an element of tension to it. What will the artist's non-close friends think of his queerness? Is this bold phrase a declaration of support, or a warning or larger societal shame?
Joiri Minaya. “Proposal for artistic intervention on the Columbus statue in front of the Government House in Nassau, The Bahamas,” 2017, Digital print on standard postcard paper, 5 x 7 in. Courtesy of the artist.
Contrasting possibilities of imagery are also seen in Joriri Minaya’s The Cloakings. The artwork consists of a display stand with numerous postcards (the same postcards are available at the front desk for viewers to take). Each postcard features an image of a statue of Cristoforo Colombo (Christopher Columbus) in Nassau, which the artist temporarily wrapped in tropical print spandex fabric. The artist effectively neutralizes this regal portrait of Columbus by transforming him into an anonymous floral figure. Minaya captured this photo while visiting the Bahamas for an exhibition that was originally scheduled to open on October 12, 2017, a date that commemorates Columbus’s arrival in the Americas. This artwork, in the context of this exhibition, addresses a broader cultural reckoning with homages to controversial historical figures.
For example, in July 2021, a bronze sculpture of Robert E. Lee, a former Confederate General, was removed from its stand in Charlottesville. The statue’s removal came after a “Unite the Right” rally in the city ended in the death of Heather Heyer, when James Fields, a white supremacist, drove his car through a crowd of counter protestors, including Heyer. A more subtle homage to Robert E. Lee was tackled in San Antonio, as well. In San Antonio’s north side, Robert E. Lee High School was renamed to Legacy of Educational Excellence High School in 2017.
Ernesto Bautista. “Construction of the Cities of Memory” (still), 2018, Digital video. Collection of the artist.
Construction of the Cities of Memory explores the personal stories of Salvadorans. In this film, Bautista interviews his friends about their first childhood homes, and he creates diagrams of the homes based on their words. His friends reveal the nuances of their homes with incredible details, including how large the homes were, how many tables they had, how large their parents’ rooms were, and so forth.
Each friend recalls memories of their childhood. Mauricio discusses how his first home was taken over by gang violence just months after his mother purchased the property. Meanwhile, Elizabeth recalls nostalgic cold nights and the sounds of the day. Though Elizabeth felt her home was a safe space during her childhood and adolescence, she knows that her house now is safer. These narratives are striking. You can sense the emotion experienced by our storytellers, who were impacted by crime in El Salvador in the early 2000s and 2010s.
The artworks in Notes for Tomorrow posit that we are not defined by our culture as they touch on LGBT+ identity, colonialism, and memory. The time to ourselves during the pandemic encouraged us to look within and outward. The banner of Communist messaging becomes a banner of queer culture in Cheng’s work. Minaya strips colonial figures of their power by reducing them into crafty 3-D visions. The appropriation by Cheng and Minaya envisions a different future, not entirely defined by the traditional symbols of the past. Furthermore, personal narratives by Bautista’s film participants give agency to people whose pasts were impacted by conflicts out of their control.
Notes for Tomorrow is on display at the University of Texas at San Antonio’s Main Gallery until October 26, 2024.
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