Serie Project: Los Dos Corazones and Smile Now Cry Later,
Women Boxers: The New Warriors,
La Llorona in Lillith's Garden,
San Sebastiana: Angel de la Muerte,
From the West: Shooting the Tourist,
El Sagrado Corazon/The Sacred Heart,
Codex Delilah: A Journey from Mexicatl to Chicana
Delilah Montoya
dmontoy2@gmail.com
Montoya's
work is grounded in the experiences of the Southwest and brings together
a multiplicity of syncretic forms and paractises - from those of Aztec Mexico
and Spain to cross-border vernacular traditions - all of which are shaded
by contemporary American custom and values. In her work, she explores the
unusual relationships that result from negotiating different strategies of
understanding and representing the rich ways of life and thought found in
the Southwest.
Montoya 's numerous projects investigate cultural phenonmena; whether investigating
spiritual rituals or questioning gender traditions, she always addresses
and often confronts viewer' assumptions.
2008 "We
the People: Work by Delilah Montoya, Soody Sharifi, and Orlando Lara," Art League Houston, Houston,
Texas.
By
using the Art League of Houston as a cultural space, the U. S. culture
with respect to Moslem Americans and the Mexican Migration was explored. Soody Sharifi, Orlando Lara, and Delilah Montoya collaborated
on an exhibition styled as installations where the voices of the "Other"
Americans could be heard. By
making use of the American flag as the visual metaphor, the aim was to reveal
the relationship of these two ethnic minorities within the U. S. political
landscape. The work was created
during the 2008 election as a representation of American voices whose issues
are generally demonized in the news media.
Soody Sharifi's "Flag"
series includes a set of staged photographs that deliberately juxtaposed
the veil, a charged symbol of Islam, and the American Flag – to
explore political tension. Yet,
similarly, the tension between the Mexican community and the U. S. democratic
systems is bridged by the iconic symbol of Old Glory as it was waved
by the Mexican American community during the massive 2006 national marches.
Drawing
from previous works and from the current issues at stake, Montoya and Lara
created the installation "Desire! Lines in the U. S. Landscape." The
metaphor "Desire Lines" was opted from the architectural concept
describing the well-trodden paths that pedestrians carve into areas not
intended for crossing. Realizing
this, designers are faced with a choice: alter their designs to match the
collective desire of the people, or find a way to force compliance. The United States has repeatedly chosen
to construct real and imaginary fences – for example, by creating
new laws – and yet the continuing desire is still pressed into the
U. S. landscape. The installation
included panoramic desert landscapes of migrant trails mounted on aluminum,
and the video Elizabeth's Story (a
border crossing testimonial) emphasizes the ghostliness of the treacherous
crossings.
Ultimately,
this collaborative exhibition examined the border landscape, along with
Islamic and U. S. Democracy symbols. The
collaborative works revealed Moslem and Mexican American cultures as significant
contributors to the grand cultural landscape of America. The
Smithsonian
American Art Museum acquired the print “Desire Lines” for their
permanent collection.
Modern
Democracy, After Goya's "Disasters of War" 2009
Polymer Photogravure Print
2011-2012 "En Foco/In
Focus: Selected Works from the Permanent Collection," Light
Work's Robert B. Menschel Photography Gallery, Schine Student
Center, Syracuse, New York; Art Museum of the Americas, Washington, DC; Aljira,
Newark, New Jersey; California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco,
California.
2009 "Topiary
Text Lead, Individual
Artist Grantees," 125 Gallery, Houston, Texas.
Modern Democracy, After Goya's "Disasters of War is
a statement on the consequence of war inspired by Goya's statement, "Grande hazaña! Con muertos!
/ Great deeds, with dead men!" It
is based on one of Luis Jiménez's final
prints, which was published at Flatbed Press in Austin, Texas. Jiménez's sources of inspiration
for his print were the tragic war in Iraq, the print "Disasters of
War" by Goya, and an insufferable divorce that consumed his emotions
and resources. He died before
either the war or the divorce was resolved.
In
studying Jiménez's print, Montoya became
aware that, as citizens – much like Jiménez's inability
to untie his tragic relationship – our affiliation to "freedom" is
bound to a "democratic" process that motivates us, not necessarily
by reason, but rather by a consuming patriotic commitment. To extend this thought beyond the boundaries
of the United States, we as citizens of the world are bound to a submissive
duty known as nationalism that serves the interests of those who control
governments, and thus, as the print suggests, modern democracy is born
/borne.
Master
printer Dan Allison published Modern
Democracy, After Goya's "Disaster of War" as
a polymer photogravure print at Texas Collaborative Arts Studio. The Houston Arts Alliance Individual
Artist Grant Fellowship funded the publication of an edition of 14 polymer
photogravure prints and 18 artist proofs. In
doing so, Montoya expanded her photo-printmaking experience to include
the photo polymer process.
This
collaboration helped her understand the capabilities and limitations of
this cutting-edge technology. She
found the process to be extraordinary in the application of ink to paper
as it rendered a photographic surface. The
multiple layers built by a photographic matrix produced a vibrant palette
that textured the image. Registering
the color and tones to one another was the most difficult step, something
that both Allison and Montoya are contemplating how to improve. The
end product stands as an amazing example of the tones and contrast that
can be achieved with the polymer photogravure print process.
Invitational
Serie Project Residency 2007-2008
The Serie Project
was founded in 1993 by Austin artist Sam Coronado and has hosted more than
250 residencies to date. The Serie Project is a non-profit organization dedicated to
the fine art of hand-pulled serigraphy prints to produce original works
of art. The organization offered Delilah Montoya an Artist in Residence
(AIR) that allowed her to create a limited edition of prints under the
guidance of a Master Printer. The
program aims at increasing the presence of minorities in the art world
by encouraging multi-racial participation, particular for the Latino Artist.
Montoya was invited two years in a row, 2007 and 2008, resulting in the
production of the following prints.
“Estamos
Aquí! We are Here!, ExhibitsUSA, Traveling Exhibit in Production
"Arte Tejano:
De Campos, Barrios y Fronteras," OSDE Espacio de Arte, Buenos Aires,
Argentina.
"New Prints 2008/Spring – Selected
by Jane Hammond," New York School of Interior Design, New York, New
York.
In
her print Los Dos Corazones,
Montoya pays homage to her close friend, renowned sculptor Luis Jiménez, who passed away in 2006. In the locket, Montoya uses a photograph of Jiménez that she took in 2005 when they were hiking
near his ranch in New Mexico. The other images in the print are mementos
that Montoya and Jiménez shared in real
life, such as the rose petals whose beauty they both observed once outside
her home, and the locket and charms that were gifts from Jiménez to
Montoya. "Luis was a
very warm, caring individual, and I hope people can get this sense of him
when looking at this print," she says.
"Serie Quinceañera," Mexi-Arte Museum, Austin, Texas.
"New
Print 2009, Summer Portraits: In
Pursuit of Likeness," IPCNY, New York, New York.
The title of Delilah Montoya's
print Smile Now, Cry Later comes
from an old barrio saying that
refers to a person's feelings when doing something they shouldn't be doing. Initially, one will enjoy the feeling
and smile, but eventually the consequences will cause one to "cry
later." The female boxer in the image has this tattooed on her arm,
which Montoya chooses to make the focus of the print. The image was taken from a photograph Montoya took as part
of a series on female boxers, a subject she feels that deserves recognition
as an emerging sport. Montoya
doesn't believe in an "innate female nature," but rather that,
although a softer nature is encouraged in women, they don't have to be
that way. She plays with this idea with the quinceañera sign
in the background, celebrating the Serie Project's
15th anniversary, and implying that "a little bit of a
boxing match goes on" in quinceañera.
2011 "Her Gaze/Su
Mirada,"curated by Maruca Salazar, Museo de las Americas, Denver,
Colorado.
2008 "Retrospective,
Photographs by Delilah Montoya," La Llorona Art
Gallery, Chicago, Illinois.
2006 "Día
de los Muertos,"Mexican Museum, Chicago, Illinois.
"When
My Heart Trembled" is an installation produced as an ofrenda in tribute to Luis Jiménez for the Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) Celebration on September 25,
2006 at the Mexican Museum in Chicago, Illinois. An ofrenda is
an artistic offering made and traditionally offered for the Día de los Muertos in
memory of the departed.
A
three-layered piezo print, with a background,
mid-ground, and foreground was digitally montaged from
images photographed in a burned out bosque river bottomland of the Rio Grande in Albuquerque. It was produced while grieving and holding
onto memories, as Montoya looked for her loss there in the bosque of New
Mexico where a forest fire left the land charred.
A
destroyed landscape that foreground devastation and chaos, but most of
all spoke of anguish, is depicted in the print. Yet what Montoya remembered were the things that truly counted – the
time spent together, love, and friendship. Items that symbolized Jiménez's life and accomplishments were placed around
and in front of the digital dimensional print for the ofrenda at the Mexican Museum.
2011 "Pan u Circos," curated by Robert
Boyd, PG Contemporary, Houston, Texas.
2009 "Visual Arts: Stimulus," Diverse Works, Houston,
Texas.
"Chicana Bad Girls – Las Hocionas," 516 Arts, Albuquerque,
New Mexico.
2006 "Contemporary
Art Houston," Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China.
2005 "La Madre Poderosa,"
The Harwood Museum of Art, Taos, New Mexico.
2004 "Atravesando Fronteras: Lines
that Unite\Lines that Divide," El Museo Cultural
de Santa Fe, New
Mexico.
During the summer of 1996, Montoya assembled
an installation in a bathroom in a hotel room at the Hotel Santa Fe in
New Mexico, where she began to understand Llorona as a monster who was used
culturally to scare women straight. This
room was converted into Llorona’s room, complete with her trappings, like water
and a grapevine with exposed roots to resemble wire-like hair. Cherubs float on the walls. A shower curtain is screen printed with
a line of young female faces expressing shock. Tossed onto the bathroom floor are green prom high-heels and,
for reading entertainment, the tabloids about the heinous newborn killings. Graffiti-ed on the wall is the installation’s title, For a Good Time Call 1-900-Llorona.
Later in 2004, Montoya collaborated with Tina Hernandez on a similar site-specific installation, La Llorona in Lillith’s Gardens, which consists of two photographic murals printed on canvas (20’ x 8’ and 10’ x 8’) created for El Museo Cultural de Santa Fe. The sensual and mesmerizing photographic installation brings together two archetypal figures thought to have betrayed their husbands and murdered their children. According to folklore, both Lillith and La Llorona continue to haunt the terrestrial realm as evil spirits. These women were presented as monsters and constructed to send a lesson to young girls on how to behave or how they should feel about these sorts of “monstrous women.” The installation provocatively explores the traditional double standards that determine appropriate behavior for women and invests these female archetypes with new meaning. This image was exhibited in numerous venues between 2004 and 2011.
Sed: The Trail of Thirst 2004-2008
2012 "Borders,"
Alcove Show, PDNB Gallery, Dallas, Texas."
"Crossing
the Lines," 1310 Gallery, Sailboat Bend Artist Lofts, Fort Lauderdale,
Florida.
2011-2012 "En Foco/In Focus: Selected Works from the Permanent Collection," Light
Work's Robert B. Menschel Photography Gallery, Schine Student
Center, Syracuse, New York; Art Museum of the Americas, Washington, DC; Aljira,
Newark, New Jersey; California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco,
California.
2011 "Her Gaze/Su
Mirada,"curated by Maruca Salazar, Museo de las Americas, Denver,
Colorado.
"Crossings,"
curated by Diane Kahlo, Andres Cruz, and Marta Miranda, Lexington Art League,
Lexington,
Kentucky.
2010 "Voz Femenina," Café Flores, Houston, Texas.
"El Grito," Brad Cushman, University of Arkansas Little
Rock Gallery, Little Rock, Arkansas.
"Albuquerque
Now: Winter," Albuquerque Museum of Art and History, Albuquerque,
New Mexico.
2008-2010 "Phantom
Sightings: Art After the Chicano Movement," Los Angeles County Museum,
Los Angeles,
California; Museo Tamayo de
Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City, Mexico; Museo Alameda, San Antonio,
Texas; Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona; Museo de Arte Zapopan, Museo
Barrio, New York, New York.
2009 "Status Report: An
Exhibition About the Border, Immigration, and Work," BRIC Contemporary
Art
Museum, Brooklyn, New York.
"Chicana Art and Experience,"
AFL-CIO, Washington, D.C.
2008 "A Declaration of Immigration," National
Museum of Mexican Art, Chicago, Illinois.
"Death
+ Memory in Contemporary Art," Landmark Arts Gallery, Texas Tech
University, Lubbock, Texas.
"The
Trail of Thirst: Delilah Montoya," Patricia Corriea Gallery,
Santa Monica, California.
2007 "Lost
and Found 2: Missing in Plain
Sight," curated by Kathryn Davis, Patina Gallery, Santa Fe, New
Mexico.
2004 "Sed: The Trail of Thirst" (Two Person Installation
with Orlando Lara), Talento Bilingüe de
Houston,
FotoFest, Houston, Texas.
Sed: The Trail of Thirst, produced in collaboration with Orlando
Lara, exhibited at Talento Bilingüe de
Houston for FotoFest 2004, and funded by University of Houston Small Grants
Program, engages the tropes of the Southwestern landscape. However, rather than focusing on human
interaction with landmarks and locales, this project wields its expressive
power by focusing on the absence of the human figure in the landscape.
This installation depicts
the perilous migration route across the Arizona Sonora desert and the omnipresent thirst for water experienced
by migrants during their clandestine border crossings. The
installation includes panoramic photographs documenting the desert landscape,
digital photographic prints, found objects, and a video of the trail that
crosses the Sonora Desert from northern Mexico into Arizona and the Tohono
O’odham Nation. Displayed
on shelves in front of the photographs is a collection of objects left
behind on the journey, including the mismatched shoes of adults and children
and religious votive items – touchstones for spiritual sustenance
and safeguards for a safe journey.
This cultural landscape represents “a
contemporary middle passage,” where between 1996 and 2004, more than
3,000 migrants perished along the border. Sed: The Trail of Thirst honors
the courage of the migrant experience and those who have sought to provide
the migrants with aid by establishing the controversial mini-oases scattered
throughout the region. Both W. Jackson Rushing in Art Papers, July/August
2004 and Patricia C. Johnson in “Gallery Notes,” in the Houston
Chronicle, April 1, 2004, reviewed this installation.
The panoramic landscapes were re-imaged for inclusion into the Los Angeles County Museum traveling exhibit, "Phantom Sightings," 2008, and the work continued to travel throughout the United States after the show closed in 2010. The panoramic landscapes were reviewed numerous times, including in the New York Times article "Phantom Sightings: They're Chicanos and Artists. But Is Their Art Chicano?" by Ken Johnson.
Women
Boxers: The New Warriors 2006
2012 "Domestic
Disobedience: Female Artists Redefine the Feminine Space,curated by Nuvia Crisol Ruland, San Diego Mesa
College Art Gallery, San Diego, California.
2011-2013 "Infinite
Mirror: Images of American
Identity," curated by Blake Bradford, co-curated by Benito
Huerta, Robert Lee, Airtrain Traveling
Exhibition, Syracuse University of Art Galleries, New York; Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery, Keene State College, New Mexico;
University of Maryland University College, Adelphi, Maryland; Fort Wayne
Museum of Art, Lowe Art Museum, Coral Gables, Florida.
2011 "Her Gaze/Su Mirada,"curated by Maruca Salazar, Museo de las Americas,
Denver, Colorado.
2010 "Shrew'd: The
Smart and Sassy Survey of American Women Artists," Sheldon Memorial
Art Gallery,
Lincoln, Nebraska.
2008 "Natural
Forces: Laura Aguilar, Delilah
Montoya," Magnan Emrich Contemporary,
New York, New York.
"Photography:
New Mexico,"University of New Mexico Art
Museum, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
2007 "Aquí
No Hay Virgenes: Queer Latina
Visibility," The Village, Los Angeles, California.
2006 "Women Boxers: The New Warriors,"Andrew Smith Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
"Las Malcriadas,"MacKinney Avenue
Contemporary Arts Center, Dallas, Texas.
"Women
Boxers: The New Warriors,"Patricia Correia Gallery, Santa Monica, California.
"Women
Boxers: The New Warriors,"Project Row Houses,
Houston. Texas.
"Green,"516
Arts, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Women
Boxers: The New Warriors,
an exhibition and book project, portrays professional female boxers as malcriadas. Funded
in part by the University of Houston Small Grants Program and the Cultural
Arts Council of Houston and Harris County, this work was exhibited during
FotoFest 2006 at Project Row House and later at the MacKinney Avenue
Contemporary in Dallas, Texas, where Dee Mitchells for Art in America
reviewed the show. Three prints
from the series were purchased by the Sheldon Museum of Art for their
permanent collection and will be published in Encounters: Photographs from the Sheldon Museum of
Art, University of Nebraska Press, 2013. Two prints, "Terri 'Lil Loca'
Lynn Cruz" and "Pink" were selected for the traveling
exhibit,
"Infinite Mirror: Images
of American Identity," produced by Artrain Inc. The
Museum of Fine Art Houston acquired the print Audrey
in her Corner for their photography collection.
By crossing the ropes and getting into
the ring, these professional athletes enter into the bastions of manliness
to confront a brutal sport. Many,
in fact, are appalled by the violent sport of boxing and believe it should
be banned. But these women,
determined to box, turn their backs on these opinions. Title IX of the Civil Rights Act and
the feminist movement gave them the right, and they have taken it willingly. Female
boxers fight because they can – they are professionally trained,
and the boxing rules are now modified to allow women athletes to participate
in this sanctioned combat.
San Sebastiana: Angel de la Muerte 2002
2008 "San Sebastiana: An Installation by Delilah Montoya and
Dissonance," 125 Gallery, Houston, Texas.
"Death
+ Memory in Contemporary Art," Landmark Arts Gallery, Texas Tech University,
Lubbock,
Texas.
2006 "Las Malcriadas,"MacKinney Avenue
Contemporary Arts Center, Dallas, Texas.
2003 "The
Legend of Doña Sebastiana, Spanish Colonial
Museum, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
"!PicARTE! Photography Beyond Representation," Heard
Museum, Phoenix, Arizona.
2002 "Ahora: New Mexican Hispanic Art," Art Museum of the
National Hispanic Culture Center, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
2001 "San
Sebastiana," Andrew Smith Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
San Sebastiana:
Angel del La Muerte is
a DVD video installation first shown at the Andrew Smith Gallery and
later in “Ahora: New Mexican Hispanic Art” at the Art Museum
of the National Hispanic Culture Center and in “!PicARTE!
Photography Beyond Representation” at the Heard Museum in Phoenix,
Arizona. It is also online
at http://www.uh.edu/~dmontoy2 as a Flash media interactive web movie.
The movie character sketches Doña Sebastiana, a New
Mexican folk icon, traditionally used in northern New Mexico by the Penitential
Brotherhood. Doña Sebastiana,
known simply as La Muerte, is the allegorical icon for
death.
According to Mollie Garcia, Montoya’s
mother, Sebastiana never wanted to be Death.
Really, all she wanted was Love and – if not love – at least
Respect. So that we all could die, it was up to
God to convince Sebastiana that she is the right
woman for the job. As He proceeds,
she starts to barter with God for the upward mobile position of sainthood.
What Sebastiana brings
to the deathbed is good old fashioned humanity
– that is, she loves gossip, and Time can be gained by occupying her
with a little seedy personal history. This gives way to her self-righteous
nature as she uses a satirical wit to comment on the chisme /gossip of human folly.
Certainly she never understands why people fear her, for when she looks at herself in the mirror, she is a beautiful diva, but when we look at her she is a skeleton/calaca. The interactive video stream at http://www.uh.edu/~dmontoy2 allows the viewer to choose between watching her as a diva or as a calaca. San Sebastiana: Angel de la Muerte portrays a woman empowered and is the ultimate malcriada - that is, she is a very Bad Girl.
2007 "Visioning the Virgin," Texas
A & M University, Corpus Christi, Texas.
2004 "Altered States:
Digital Art," Gallery at University of Texas-Arlington, Arlington,
Texas.
2002 "El Espejo, Arte Latino from Texas," ArtScan Gallery,
Houston, Texas.
"Guadalupe
en Piel: Works by Montoya," Instituto Cultural Mexicano,
Los Angeles, California.
2001-02 "Who's the Virgin of Guadalupe?" Henry
Street Settlement, Abrons Art Center, New York,
New York..
2001 "Discontent,"
College of Santa Fe Art Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
2000 "Guadalupe En Piel," Andrew Smith Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
The Guadalupe
En Piel was first designed as a window
installation for the Andrew Smith Gallery (December 2000) in Santa Fe,
New Mexico, and was later shown at venues in Los Angeles, Arlington,
Silver City, and Houston. In
2002, an artist statement, “On Photographic Digital Imaging” was
published in the Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies.
This installation was Montoya’s response
to the question, “Why does an Hispanic inmate tattoo the Guadalupe
on his back?” After
considering the question, Montoya realized it had less to do with the location
of the icon and more to do with the material that it was pressed into – the
skin.
If one considers the tilma as an Aztec ritual cloak that was worn by Juan Diego when the Guadalupe
miraculously imprinted her image onto the maguey fabric, the cloth is not
only a symbolic “magical alteration of reality,” but also becomes
a metaphor for the second skin. For
Aztec society, the second skin evokes the memory of the Xipe Totec's flayed
skin garment, which was presented to this deity following sacrificial rituals
in observance of military and fertility rites.
The Xipe Totec was believed to be the male equivalent to the earth
and moon goddesses, Tonantzin. During the ritual, the male youth to
be flayed wears a mask made of female skin as a symbolic representation
of Tonantzin, who some suggest is reincarnated as the Guadalupe.
The tilma is associated with the Xipe Totec ritual, because the
sacrificial female, representing the goddess Tonantzin,
wears a maguey tilma as
part of the ceremony.
With all this in mind, the contemporary
tattooing of the Guadalupe onto the back of the Hispanic inmate is not
an odd coincidence – that is, if one trusts the collective consciousness. In many ways this practice suggests a
ritual act meant to provide protection against harm and also empowers the
inmate during conflict by wearing “Our Lady.” In following the myth, the tattooed inmate can be thought
of as a symbolic Xipe Totec who
is the male aspect of Tonantzin and, by wearing
the Guadalupe, he empowers himself with both the male and female energies.
1992 – 2000
2011 "Case
Studies from the Bureau of Contemporary Art: Selections from the New Mexico Museum of Art
Contemporary Collection," curated by Laura Addison, Santa Fe, New
Mexico.
2004 "Art,
Culture, Place: Visual Traditions of the Southwest," University of
New Mexico Art Museum,
Albuquerque,
New Mexico.
2003 "Only Skin Deep: Changing
Visions of the American Self." International Center for Photography,
New
York, New York; Seattle Museum of Art, Seattle, Washington;
San Diego of Art and Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, California.
2002 "Guadalupe
En Piel: Works by Montoya," Instituto Cultural Mexicano,
Los Angeles, California.
California.
2001 "Lifting
the Veil," Karen Stambaugh Gallery, Miami,
Florida.
1999-2000 "Imágenes
e Historias: Chicana Altar-inspired Art." Tufts
University Art Gallery, Medford,
Massachusetts; Museum
of El Paso, El Paso, Texas; The de Saisait Museum
at Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, California.
This
installation of the Virgin of Guadalupe was conceived for the invitational
show
“Ida y Vuelta: Twelve New Mexican Artists.” La Guadalupana has
been exhibited extensively, as well as included in two national traveling
exhibitions, “Only Skin Deep: Changing Visions of the American Self,” hosted
by International Center of Photography, and “Imágenes e Historias: Chicana Altar-inspired
Art,” hosted by Aidekman Arts Center at Tufts University. It has been published
and reviewed in numerous publications such as "Secrets of Survival” by
Sandra Matthews, “Behold Their Natural Affinities” by Victor
Alejandro Sorrel, and "Looking Through the Eye of the Goddess: Delilah
Montoya’s Photoinstallation La Guadalupana" by Asta Kuusinen in Chicana/o Art: A Critical Anthology, 2013. The Museum of Final Arts in Santa Fe,
New Mexico purchased a smaller version, and Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts purchased the original installation
thus placing both installations in permanent collections.
This
work was originally produced for an installation at the Musée de
Beaux-Arts Denys-Puech in Rodez,
France, where the basilica in the central plaza hosted a 17th century
Mexican easel painting of the Guadalupe. Since the community was familiar with the Guadalupe as a religious
relic, Montoya aimed to reintroduce this image as a cultural icon that
would demonstrate the Chicano vernacular. The intent was to bring back to Europe the Guadalupe as a
container of the underpinnings of colonial dark side that foregrounds captivity,
oppression, and servitude.
In
the biography excerpt from Women
Boxers: The New Warriors, Ondine Chavoya writes
that, "This duality of saints and sinners--and the associated themes
of life, death, and salvation--is also powerfully depicted in La Guadalupana (1998)… La Guadalupana is
a 15 ½ -foot photomural. Shot
with a large-format camera, the monumental image features a man faced away
from the viewer, standing in front of metal bars, and posed with his hands
behind his back in handcuffs. Emblazoned
on his back is an elaborate and brilliant tattoo of La Virgen de Guadalupe. The
image effectively channels the sacred and the profane and transforms the
physical space of a prison cell into a sacred space and the body of the
inmate into an ofrenda or altar. The memorializing function of the installation becomes all
the more palpable when you learn that the person portrayed, Félix Martinez,
was killed in his Albuquerque jail cell shortly after the photograph was
taken. In this instance, the
paired relationship of saint and sinner has the capacity to transform the
viewer before the image into the penitent.”
From the West: Shooting the Tourist 1994
2004 "Contested
Narratives: Chicana Art from the Permanent Collection," The
Mexican Museum, San
Francisco, California.
1996 "From
the West," Mexican Museum, San Francisco, California.
This work attempts to redirect documentary
photography from the "objective" vision of modernity by documenting
the search for the "West" by way of the tourist attraction. The
notion is to return the documentary gaze.
This work was commissioned by the Mexican
Museum for the traveling exhibition "From the West" and consists
of seven artist books constructed into accordion-fold postcards and one
photomural. The
mural depicts a tourist line waiting for a ride on Thunder Mountain at
Frontier Land in Disneyland. The
series of post cards documents various tourist activities such as staging,
going native, collecting, and looking. The work was reviewed in Lucy Lippard's publication, On
the Beaten Track: Tourism, Art and Place (1999).
El
Sagrado Corazón/ the Sacred Heart 1993
2011 "Splendors
of Faith/Scars of Conquest,"Oakland Museum,
Oakland, California.
2010 "Embracing Ambiguity: Faces of
the Future," Jillian Nakornthap and Lynn Stromick, California State
University, Fullerton
Main Art Gallery, Fullerton, California.
2004 "Common
Ground: Discovering Community in 150 Years of Art," Corcoran Museum
of Art, Washington,D.C.
2002 "Arte
y Cultura," Carnegie Art Museum, Port Hueneme, California.
2001 "El Sagrado Corazón,"
Frances McCray Gallery, Silvery City, New Mexico.
"Veiled
Interiors," Center for Southwest Research, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
2000 "Revealing
and Concealing: Portraits and Identity," Skirball Cultural
Center, Los Angeles, California.
2000-2003 "Arte Latino: Treasures from the Smithsonian
American Art Museum." El Paso Museum of Art, El
2003 Paso,
Texas; Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando, Florida; Palm Springs Desert Museum,
Palm Springs,
California; Terra Museum of American
Art, Chicago, Illinois; Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico; Oakland
Museum of Art, Oakland, California; The Art Museum at Florida International
University, Miami, Florida.
A College Arts Association Professional
Development Fellowship and the University of New Mexico Southwest Hispanic
Research Institute funded this work. Exhibited
in venues such as the Smithsonian International Gallery and FotoFest 1994,
it has also traveled with international shows to Japan, the Soviet Union,
and France. The work is part of numerous permanent collections such as
the Smithsonian, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Julia J. Norrell collection. The work was reviewed by Asta M. Kuusinen in her doctoral
dissertation, Shooting from the Wild
Zone: A Study of the Chicana Art Photographers Laura Aguilar, Celia Alvarez Muñoz, Delilah Montoya, and Kathy Vargas.
This collection of collotypes portrays
Albuquerque’s Chicano Community. The
series explores the manifestation of the Sacred Heart as a cultural icon
that is embedded in the religious fabric of Chicano culture. Based on Montoya’s
research and her Mestiza perspective,
it is concluded that this Baroque religious symbol expresses shared cultural
religious patterns that connote a syncretic relationship
between European Catholicism and Aztec philosophy. The Baroque Sacred Heart in the Americas
is an icon that resulted from an encounter. It is not purely Indian in content and never completely European
in its form. Rather, it is
a hybrid of two diverse cultures that clashed and bonded at a particular
historic moment and created the foundation for religious syncretism.
This visual investigation of a cultural
icon moves away from the traditional “objective” approach to
reveal the hand of the photographer in relation to the community that was
being depicted. In representing the Sagrado Corazón, the community was invited
to collaborate with Montoya in the realization of the project. This collaborative project documented the manifestation of
the heart as a cultural icon within the participating community. The alliance resulted in a magnificent
display of creative interdependence that validates the Sagrado Corazón as an integral part of
the Chicano collective conscience.
Codex
Delilah: A Journey from Mexicatl to Chicana 1992
2010 "Embracing
Ambiguity: Faces of the Future," Jillian Nakornthap and
Lynn Stromick, California State,
Fullerton
Main Art Gallery, Fullerton, California.
2004 "Beyond
Words: Artists and the Book,"
Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico
1992-1994 "The Chicano Codices: Encountering Art of the Americas." The
Mexican Museum, San Francisco,
California; Foothills
Art Center, Golden, Colorado; California State University Art Gallery,
Northridge, California; Plaza del Raza, Los Angeles, California; Centro
Cultura de la Raza, San Diego, California; El
Centro del la Raza, Seattle, Washington.
This work was created for the traveling
exhibit “The Chicano Codices: Encountering Art of the Americas,” which
was curated by Marcos Tranquilino Sanchez
for the Mexican Museum in San Francisco. Two copies were made; one is at
the Stanford University Libraries, and the other is at the Center for Southwest
Research at the University of New Mexico, Zimmerman Library Collections. Ann
Marie Leimer, PhD, published a critical review of the work entitled “Crossing
the Border with La Adelita: Lucha-Adelucha as Nepantlera in
Delilah Montoya’s Codex Delilah” in Chicana/Latina Studies
Journal, Volume 5, Issue 2, Spring 2006.
Within the framework of a feminist vision, The
Codex Delilah: A Journey From Mexicatl to Chicana approaches
the Spanish/Indian encounter from a mestizaje perspective. As
a Chicana, Montoya is conscious of how the
historical contributions of women have been undermined or completely
ignored. This project attempts
to correct that injustice by rethinking the traditional interpretation
of the European/ Native Encounter. The
narrative of this artist book is viewed from the perspective of Six Deer,
a fictional young Mayatec girl from the Tutuepec region near present-day Mexico City. From her home to the nuclear weapons
laboratories in New Mexico, the codex details Six Deer's journey of enlightenment.
As
she journeys pal norte,
towards Aztlán (the spiritual home of
her ancestors) Six Deer also travels forward in time, meeting well‑known
women of the Chicano folklore tradition. Each
of these characters informs her of the long and negative historical processes
that were initiated by the European encounter. As Six Deer travels through time and space, she learns and
simultaneously reveals to us our historical identity and how, for Chicano
people, survival has meant learning to live within a multicultural heritage
and ambiance.
Published and UnPublished Essays
Codex Delilah 1992 --The Photograph Imaged 2000 -- The Digital Imprint and the Guadalupe En Piel 2000 -- Latino/a As Other 2005, --Women Boxers 2006