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Since March 2016, Random Institute is running the curatorial program for Despacio in San José, Costa Rica.
Since March 2016, Random Institute is running the curatorial program for Despacio in San José, Costa Rica.
Untold Stories
Happened in January 2018
Sí Señor (In Focus)
For Sí Señor, Abigail Reyes watched hours of Latin American Telenovelas featuring secretaries as female leads and spliced together clips of each character repeating “sí señor” in various tones of voice: giddy, respectful, dutiful, coquettish, nervous... As her montage takes shape, an empty and submissive phrase becomes charged with a range of emotional shades and political resonances that offer a haunting new perspective on the genre.
ThoughtsThoughts
Given the importance of telenovelas in Latin American popular culture and their perpetuation of patriarchal gender roles, their influence on generations of young women is not to be underestimated. While telenovelas can occasionally be critical of misogyny and middle class complacency, it’s clear that they do more to maintain these harmful norms than they do to deconstruct them. Abigail Reyes’ collage of television secretaries bowing down to their male bosses each time they say “sí señor” is as amusing as it is unsettling.
Learn more about Reyes on Instagram or contact her by email.
Abigail Reyes was born in 1984 in San Salvador, El Salvador. She lives in La Libertad, El Salvador. She has had solo shows at the Museum of Art of El Salvador (San Salvador), Manzanita Hall Gallery (California), the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design of Costa Rica (San José), the Cultural Center of Spain (San Salvador), Extra Gallery (Guatemala City), and Lokkus Gallery (Medellín). Her works have been on display at Art Cologne, Context (Art Miami), Sies + Höke Galerie (Düsseldorf), and Taimiao Art Gallery (Beijing), among others.
InformationInformation
This piece was presented in full length in January 2018 as part of In Focus, a monthly series showcasing new video art that caught our eyes, made us think, or that we simply couldn’t forget.
Sí Señor will also be on display at the Latin America overview show at the Palais de Tokyo (Paris) opening in February 2018.
Sí Señor, 2016
Abigail Reyes
Video, 4:33 min
Edition of 5
Statistics
55070 views in Jan 2017
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