Pacific Standard Time exhibition at the Fowler traces the power of sacred plants in Brazil
Lineage through Landscape: Tracing Egun in Brazil by Fran Siegel is a multifaceted drawing project developed during the Los Angeles-based artist’s research residency in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and the island of Itaparica, a vibrant center of the Afro-Brazilian religion Candomblé. A vast, forty-foot-long, irregular “weaving” made of strips of sun-exposed and patterned fabric crossed by lengths of delicate drawings of sacred plants on translucent drafting film and cyanotypes, the work will wrap around three walls of the Museum’s “Fowler in Focus” Gallery. The Exhibition is presented as part of Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA is a far-reaching and ambitious exploration of Latin American and Latino art in dialogue with Los Angeles. Supported by grants from the Getty Foundation, Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA takes place from September 2017 through January 2018 at more than 70 cultural institutions across Southern California.
"The Fowler at UCLA has rolled out "Lineage Through Landscape: Tracing Egun in Brazil by Fran Siegel" — one of the early offerings for Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA, the Getty-led series of exhibitions and events exploring Latino and Latin American art.
Inspired by a cloth, bead, shell and mirror ensemble in the Fowler collection, Siegel's installation has only a satisfying gloss of relevance. Situating her work among the Fowler’s objects of exquisite formal integrity and deep cultural significance makes the weaknesses of this new installation more glaring. Here the journey, not the destination, must spur the imagination.
The L.A.-based Siegel traveled to Brazil on a Fulbright Fellowship to study Candomblé, a religion derived from the beliefs and practices of the Yoruba peoples of West Africa. Yoruba who had been enslaved by the Portuguese and brought to Brazil to harvest sugar and to mine gold adapted traditional rituals, including the worship of ancestral spirits, called Egun. (The clothing ensemble at the Fowler that first intrigued Siegel was worn during such ceremonies.) Siegel conducted further studies on the island of Itaparica, where two Candomblé congregations remain and continue to grow plants attributed with sacred, protective properties."— Leah Ollman, Aug. 28, 2017
Read the full article at the Los Angeles Times website.
Read more about Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA from Timeout Los Angeles.