Passing Through, Sonnabend Gallery, by Sylvia Palacios Whitman, 1977

Sylvia Palacios Whitman, Artist
Passing Through, Sonnabend Gallery , 1977

Medium
Three vintage black-and-white gelatin silver prints
Dimensions
Two sheets: 8 × 10 in. (20.3 × 25.4 cm); one sheet: 11 × 14 in. (27.9 × 35.6 cm)
Credit Line
Courtesy of Babette Mangolte and BROADWAY 1602 HARLEM, New York

The Chilean-born Sylvia Palacios Whitman moved to New York in 1961 and, though trained as a visual artist, soon began to pursue her interest in dance and theater. In 1970 she performed with Trisha Brown at the Whitney Museum of American Art and joined her dance company three years later. Between 1974 and 1981 Palacios Whitman staged her own performance works at venues including the Kitchen, Artists Space, and the Sonnabend Gallery. Her pieces were typically performed by untrained participants and regularly incorporated found and made props that were frequently ephemeral, made of paper or string, and discarded after performances. In Passing Through, the artist performed onstage with props that she describes as "images"—giant hands, a volcano, mummies, a mountain, and an airplane, along with occasional audiovisual interventions. Her visual theater combines a rich Latin American pictorial sensibility with the minimalism of New York's dance scene of the 1970s.

La artista nacida en Chile Sylvia Palacios Whitman, se mudó a Nueva York en 1961 donde pronto, y pese a su preparación como artista visual, se interesó por la danza y el teatro. En 1970, se presentó con Trisha Brown en el Whitney Museum of American Art uniéndose a su compañía de danza tres años después. Entre 1974 y 1981, Palacios Whitman realizó sus propias performances en espacios como The Kitchen, Artists Space y Sonnabend Gallery. Las piezas de Palacios Whitman eran interpretadas típicamente por participantes sin entrenamiento y regularmente incorporaban objetos encontrados o hechos a mano, usualmente de naturaleza efímera, a menudo hechos en papel o cordel y desechados después de las presentaciones. En Passing Through, (Pasar a través) la artista se presentó en escena con accesorios que ella describe como "imágenes" – manos gigantes, un volcán, momias, una montaña y un avión, junto con intervenciones audiovisuales ocasionales. Su teatro visual combina una rica sensibilidad pictórica latinoamericana con el minimalismo de la escena de la danza de Nueva York de los años 70.