These boots were for a show that I did in Miami called 'Brujas, Putas y Locas'
Three terms in which a woman usually is professionally disqualified in the art world
Whether they are a bitch or witch or crazy
It's a mock-up for a
monument for all women that have been killed or massacred
It marks the transition from martyrdom to the erotic creature of woman
I'm part of a big family that comes from farm culture, very macho
Art and creativity were not on the table
I come from a family of immigrants to South America
and then I emigrated to the United States
Cultural translation is
kind of the core of what I'm always kind of going around in my work
It has to do with the mass culture. the aesthetics
It has to do with how we as a society
relate to each other. Our own disagreements within this understanding
there's a lot of meaning and that's the place that I love to work in artist
< Artist Judy Werthein has designed a pair of sneakers
that she will gladly sell you for a
modest two hundred dollars but for illegal aliens trying to sneak across
our broken borders, she gives them away free
'Brinco' which means to jump it was
addressing the whole issue of movement of things and people and addressing
global labour. So through this object that belong to mass culture like a sneaker
all these things could be addressed. I'm actually creating an object that makes us
talk about this situation of immigration in the US #
- But if this helps them break
the law then isn't this an illegal object?
< Depending on which kind of
network it was, I was a criminal or I was the incarnation of Che Guevara in a woman
I mean that level of like extreme and in that case I became the object
Which is something that we women know very well
I moved to Miami from New York, it was pretty amazing because it gave me a lot
of room to reevaluate things
My interest is to relate to the masses not to the
small circle of the art world and I realise how small the
conversations that we were having in the art world where
It was restrictive
in the same way I found my body restricted. I found myself intellectually restricted
This is all the Haitian neighbourhood where my studio is
I really like this neighbourhood, people are beautiful
Miami is like the hinge
between the south and the north of the continent, it's this kind of place that is
in no place, this kind of paradise that has been build in a swamp, this kind of
bright shiny luxury, entertainment, party sex, objects, fashion, experiences
These hotels, and the spas, it's not real wealth, it's a representation of wealth
It's appearances, it's about how things appear, how things look, the bling, how things shine
[Latino music]
I like a constant diversity in everything
In people, in my conversations, in food
Miami is the Latin America of the U.S. Literally. It's funny because Florida is
the state that always defines the elections here
It's a huge Argentine community, a huge Venezuelan community
Well humongous Cuban community Caribbean, Bahamian
[car honk] Sorry!
Sorry motherfuckers
I mean the work kind of accompanies who you are, in a way
It's like you live your life and then from that you produce
It's about experiences, creating these moments in which certain things or
crossings happen that would not happen in daily life or in public spaces
'Manicurated' it was a piece that I did it in New York at the Bronx Museum in 2002
People will come to the salon and pick the artworks that they wanted on their nails
Taking these images that belong to the museum, which is a public
collection, in their hands
- I'm taking the art with me, I'm taking it home gonna enjoy this as long as I can
I got nails for the weekend!
<You would have on one station, I don't know a curator of MoMA
having her nails done and on the other one like a homeless woman
so it created a conversational situation around this activity of the nails
It was fun, it was a lot of fun
Living in Miami was transformative for me, it was different from my experience
of living in Metropolis. The weather, the fact that I could have a healthier life
and that kind of drove me to this different connection with the body
I'm so grateful for that to Miami
It's like having a contract with yourself
of being fully true to yourself
My experience is as a woman, it cannot be any other experience
I cannot talk for any other place and I think that now we shifted into a new
territory of women embracing our beauty and feeling sexy and feeling hot
and acknowledging that our sexuality is power, not hiding it or pretending it's
not there it is there
We need to pussify art world you know [laughs]
you