https://www.mrmichaelme.com
April 21, 2017– June 9, 2017
Michael Anthony García’s Suspension of Belief explored themes of displacement, immigration, and migration. Multidisciplinary artist & independent curator Michael Anthony García, claiming both Mexican and US citizenship, is based in Austin, Texas and predominantly focuses his practice around photography/video, sculpture/installation and performance. He is a founding member of Los Outsiders curatorial collective and have curated large-scale exhibitions of international artists, in and out of the US. Notably, he has had solo curatorial projects for Mexic-Arte Museum, Texas State University Galleries, the gallery at the Austin Central Public Library and Fusebox Festival. He participated in the 2011 Texas Biennial and has won awards both for his curatorial and three-dimensional work. He co-hosts an intersectional conversation podcast named El Puente and is publisher for POCa Madre Magazine. García has premiered work for The Utah Museum of Contemporary Art Biennale in Houston, The Contemporary Austin, Soundspace at The Blanton Museum of Art, El Museo de la Ciudad de México, and ThreeWalls in Chicago.
The ideas presented in this work represent multiple, entwined themes common to many Latino migrant worker experiences, particularly those of female immigrants. Be it through human trafficking, or abuse at the hands of other migrants or employers, they are taken advantage of, often with small children in tow. These sacrifices are made just to have a chance to create a better life for their families.
They are asked to take leaps of faith, suspend their belief, and their worth for a chance at a better future. The title “suspension” is also used here in its scientific sense: a mixture in which particles are dispersed throughout the bulk of a fluid. Women are transformed anonymous molecules, asked to dilute their beings to become a part of something larger, to lose their characteristics, their language and sadly too often others’ respect for their bodies.
