WHEN IS A SOLO EXHIBITION NOT A SOLO EXHIBITION?

Answer:  "when so many of the materials, ideas, assistance are contributed or donated, causing it to be a virtual collaboration."  That's what has happened with HILOS  (THREADS), the show opening tomorrow night at El Nigromante Bellas Artes here in San Miguel de Allende. 

We'll begin with UNZIPPED / CIERRE BAJADO, in 2013, when I posted on Facebook a request for old zippers to donate to this idea I was having. After great results, I then posted a call for words or phrases that they had been told, at some point in their lives, to just "zip up" in other words, shut up about. 

Soon, zippers began to appear in my mailbox, phrases in my emails, and my friend Sharyn Bates lent me her sewing machine when I didn't have one. The list of all who contributed phrases is too long to even post here. Hopefully, you will all recognize yours in the final piece. 

labels from Donnis Doyle, Janet Avery, Debbi Brody,
and so many others.

Also featured is a new installation of BEHIND THE LABEL / DETRAS DE ETIQUETA, a huipil, enlarged since its last incarnation, with the question "Do you know who makes your clothes?"  Hundreds of labels were sent or delivered to me, by friends from yet another Facebook post. 

Here the list of collaborators gets really tricky. Victoria Pierce found these spools at a junk store and together we realized how they could be added to the installation. Orlando Alandia placed labels on the wall, creating a confetti effect. Melissa Bastos and Ronny Khalil made a video of the art+activism day in December 2013 that was achieved with the help of Rebecca Peterson, Joy Wesson, and the many who stopped by and allowed us to clip the labels out of their clothes.

THE MATRIX will be rolled out again, after having shown in Albuquerque, Pozos and Antigua. It's an interactive grid that invites visitors to write their tributes to a mother or someone who has been a mother figure in their lives.

This young woman wrote to thank her mom for bringing
her to Antigua to celebrate her Quinceañera.

Without their poems, letters, sweet words, there would be no piece here to show. Most definitely it is a collaborative work. 

This collaboration requires another post, so I'll write part 2 in a couple of days. For now, tomorrow is the exhibition opening, and I look forward to the celebration with so many collaborators!