Photo: Andrés Senra
Let the River In
Andrés Senra & Nicolás Dumit Estévez Raful Espejo Ovalles Morel
Meet us outside the 6 train / Whitlock Avenue Station / Street Level / Outside Caribbean restaurant / Participants should be ready to dress up and wear makeup (provided)
Those seeking to join must RSPV by clicking HERE
This gathering will be filmed and photographed
This gathering engages camouflaging and mimicry as a survival strategy commonly used by non-human animals and plants to blend in with their surroundings. By emulating the predominant colors, shapes and patterns within their ecologies, these wise beings observe without being observed, ensuring their survival while also– sometimes–attracting other beings. Inspired by this phenomenon, participants in Let the River In are invited to inhabit a limited square footage around us along the banks of the Bronx River. The idea is to become deeply familiar with all elements we are in contact with, and from there to transform ourselves by way of fabric and makeup into the place one is embedded in. This embodiment can become an exercise in oneness with all. It is also a movement into the sensuality of the living world and a celebration of bodies, including that of the Bronx River.
Nicolás thanks Lin Wang Gordon for teaching him the square footage practice.
Let the River In is an action that is part of Bodies of Water / Fluid Improvisations Along the Bronx River, a program conceived and produced by Nicolás Dumit Estévez Raful, with individual actions co-created with Arantxa Araujo, Andrés Senra, Luis A. Lara Malvacías, and Priscilla Marrero & Ferran Martin.
The series of actions is dedicated to the late Nancy Wallace. “She…[Nancy]…helped transform a watery graveyard for automobiles, tires and appliances into an urban greenbelt for New York City and Westchester County” The New York Times
About Bodies of Water/Fluid Improvisations Along the Bronx River points to the connections between bodies, as in human and non-human ones–such as Rivers–, as well as to concepts of interbeing, interconnectedness, and interdependence with all beings. Similarly, it brings to light ecological and social justice issues regarding colonial histories, environmental racism, and extractive capitalism while issuing a call for individual and collective stewardship and care for all bodies of Water. During four gatherings in different points along the Bronx River, improvisations centered on flow, water, compassion and deep listening are meant to unfold for invited participants, or perhaps unsuspecting audiences and wanderers attracted by a sight inspiring wonder and contemplation.
Bodies of Water/Fluid Improvisations Along the Bronx River / Background: The Bronx River has been a constant presence for Nicolás since he moved from the Dominican Republic to New York City in 1991. His first job was in the Fordham Road section with the Bronx River Restoration Project and it entailed engaging the aquatic subject through art classes. In 2011 he was baptized by Bill Aguado and Susan Newmark in Drew Gardens. The sacramental was water from the Bronx River and the intention was that of a rite of passage into Bronxhood. Three decades after his first connection with the Bronx, and in a rapidly gentrifying borough, Nicolás is proposing to approach the Bronx River from the perspective of elderhood and aging.
Nicolás Dumit Estévez Raful was awarded a New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) Support for Artists Grant (Bronx, NY) to support his creative work. Sponsored by The Action Lab, this award is funding Bodies of Water/Fluid Improvisations Along the Bronx River. Through New York State’s continued investment in arts and culture, NYSCA has awarded over $80 million since Spring 2023 to over 1,500 artists and organizations across the state.
Bodies of Water/Fluid Improvisations Along the Bronx River Ó 2022 Nicolás Dumit Estévez Raful / with copyrights for individual actions equally shared with each collaborator.
Andrés Senra is a transdisciplinary artist, PhD in Philosophy and Art Theory, and holds a BA in Biology with a Master’s degree. He is also a curator based in Queens, New York. His latest works revolve around the concept of human communities as ephemeral ecological assemblages, where political, economic, and social tensions in the contemporary world are embodied. In recent projects, Senra has addressed issues such as economic and LGBTIQ+ migration, the consequences of climate change on our lives, the archive as an artwork, and the political and affective history of the queer community in 1990s Madrid. His latest work delves into identity as a fluid process, constantly under construction, presenting queer, non-binary, and gender-fluid utopian communities through sci-fi visual narratives. These identities are portrayed as fluctuating political and ecological assemblages, combining human and non-human elements, as well as human-technology entanglements. Senra's work defends sexual dissidence and embraces the figure of the monster, hybridization, and post-gender politics through speculative sci-fi, offering new ways to rethink the contemporary world.
Nicolás Dumit Estévez Raful Espejo Ovalles Morel treads an elusive path that manifests itself performatively through creative experiences that he helps unfold within the quotidian. He has exhibited or performed at Madrid Abierto/ARCO, The IX Havana Biennial, PERFORMA 05/07/21, IDENSITAT, Prague Quadrennial, Pontevedra Biennial, Queens Museum, MoMA, Printed Matter, P.S. 122, Sculpture Center, Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance BAAD!, Hemispheric Institute of Performance Art and Politics, City as Living Lab, Princeton University, Anthology Film Archives, El Museo del Barrio, Center for Book Arts, Longwood Art Gallery/BCA, The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, Franklin Furnace, and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. Nicolás has received mentorship in art in everyday life from Linda Mary Montano, a historic figure in the performance art field. Nicolás holds an MFA from Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, where he studied with Coco Fusco; and an MA from Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York. He recently served as a Senior Lecturer and Social Practice Artist in Residence in the Art and Art History Department at The University of Texas, Austin; and was a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellow in Washington DC. He is the founding director of The Interior Beauty Salon, an organism living at the intersection of creativity and healing. Born in Santiago, Dominican Republic, Nicolás was baptized as a Bronxite in 2011.