Carlos Martiel (born 1989) is a

contemporary Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from approximately 1945 to the present. Contemporary history is either a subset of the late modern period, or it is o ...

installation Installation may refer to: * Installation (computer programs) * Installation, work of installation art * Installation, military base * Installation, into an office, especially a religious (Installation (Christianity) Installation is a Christian li ...

and performance artist. Martiel was born in Havana, Cuba. He identifies as queer and

Afro-Latinx Black Hispanic and Latino Americans, also called Afro-Hispanics ( es, Afrohispano, links=no), Afro-Latinos or Black Hispanics, or Black Latinos are classified by the United States Census Bureau, Office of Management and Budget, and other U.S. ...

, with Haitian and Jamaican ancestry. He graduated from Cuba's

Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes "San Alejandro" Academia Nacional de Bellas Artes San Alejandro, is the oldest and most prestigious fine arts school in Cuba. It is also known as Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes "San Alejandro", Academia San Alejandro, or San Alejandro Academy. The school is lo ...

in 2009. In addition, he studied in the Cátedra Arte de Conducta (Behavior Art School) under

Tania Bruguera Tania Bruguera (born 1968 in Havana, Cuba) is an artist and activist who focuses on installation and performance art. She lives and works between New York City and Havana, and has participated in numerous international exhibitions. Her work is i ...

from 2008 to 2010. Martiel lives and works in both Havana and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. Martiel's work can be characterized as

endurance art Endurance (also related to sufferance, resilience, constitution, fortitude, and hardiness) is the ability of an organism to exert itself and remain active for a long period of time, as well as its ability to resist, withstand, recover from an ...

. His artistic practice uses his own body, often nude, in order to draw attention to the embodied experience of Blackness under systems of violence and exploitation. In his durational performances, Martiel frequently subjects himself to physical pain and self-harm. This includes piercing his skin with a miniature flagpole flying an

American flag The national flag of the United States of America, often referred to as the ''American flag'' or the ''U.S. flag'', consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the ca ...

, having a pest exterminator spray his body with insecticide, compressing his legs under the weight of a pear-tree trunk, stitching the collar of a blue shirt to the skin around his neck, and having a piece of his own skin surgically removed and preserved in a gold medal that he had designed. Thematically, his works explore

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonis ...

and

racialization In sociology, racialization or ethnicization is a political process of ascribing ethnic or racial identities to a relationship, social practice, or group that did not identify itself as such. Racialization or ethnicization often arises out of th ...

gender Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures ...

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, a ...

, and the legacy of European colonialism in the United States. Martiel's works are included in the collections of the

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue on the corner of East 89th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It is the permanent home of a continuously exp ...

, the

Pérez Art Museum Miami The Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM)—officially known as the Jorge M. Pérez Art Museum of Miami-Dade County—is a contemporary art museum that relocated in 2013 to the Museum Park in Downtown Miami, Florida. Founded in 1984 as the Center for t ...

, and the

Museum of Modern Art, Rio de Janeiro A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

. His awards include a grant from the Franklin Furnace Fund (2016), a Grants & Commissions Program Award from the Cisneros Fontanals Foundation (2014), and the

Arte Laguna Prize Arte Laguna Prize is an international art and design competition which takes place in Venice (Italy) since 2006 and it is aimed at promoting and enhancing contemporary art. There are different contest sections: painting, sculpture and instal ...

(2013). In 2021, he received a Latinx Art Fellowship from the

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...

Mellon Foundation The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation of New York City in the United States, simply known as Mellon Foundation, is a private foundation with five core areas of interest, and endowed with wealth accumulated by Andrew Mellon of the Mellon family of Pitt ...

, and U.S. Latinx Art Forum. In 2023, he became the first winner of the Maestro Dobel Latinx Art Prize by the

Museo del Barrio El Museo del Barrio, often known simply as El Museo (the museum), is a museum at 1230 Fifth Avenue in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is located near the northern end of Fifth Avenue's Museum Mile, immediately north of the Museum of the City ...

Performances and exhibitions

* ''Arquitectura para un cuerpo'',

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is a museum of American art in Bentonville, Arkansas. The museum, founded by Alice Walton and designed by Moshe Safdie, officially opened on 11 November 2011. It offers free public admission. Overview ...

(2022) * ''Monumento II,'' Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2021) * ''Black Bodies – White Lies'', K Contemporary, Denver (2020) *''Afro Syncretic'' roup exhibition King Juan Carlos I Center, New York University (2020) *Sabor a Lagrimas,

Sharjah Biennial The Sharjah Biennial is a large-scale contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in the city of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. The first Sharjah Biennial took place in 1993, and was organized by the Sharjah Department of Cul ...

14, United Arab Emirates (2019) *Gente de color (People of Color), Fourteenth Cuenca Biennial, Cuenca, Ecuador (2018) * ''Intruder (America)'', AC Institute, New York (2018) * ''América'', Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA Performance Art Festival,

Museum of Latin American Art The Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA) was founded by Dr. Robert Gumbiner in 1996 in Long Beach, California, United States and serves the greater Los Angeles area. MOLAA is the only museum in the United States dedicated to modern and contempora ...

, Long Beach (2018) * ''Mediterráneo'', 57th

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

(2017) *''CUBA: Tatuare la storia'' roup exhibition

Padiglione d'Arte Contemporanea The Padiglione d'Arte Contemporanea or PAC is a museum of contemporary art in Milan, Italy. It is on via Palestro, next to the Galleria d'Arte Moderna, and across from the Giardini Pubblici Indro Montanelli. History In 1947 the Municipality ...

, Palermo, Italy (2016) * ''We the People'', Biennale Internationale de Casablanca, Hassan II Mosque, Morocco (2016) * ''Intersección'', Museo de Arte Contemporáneo del Zulia (MACZUL), Maracaibo, Venezuela (2016) * 30th Anniversary

Havana Biennial The Bienal de La Habana was founded in 1984. It takes place in Havana (Cuba) every two years. It principally aims at promoting the developing world in contemporary art circles, giving priority to Latin American and Caribbean artists, although art ...

, Wilfredo Lam Center of Contemporary Art (2014) *''Condecoración Martiel, Carlos'', Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (2014) *La Otra Bienal de Arte, Video Art of Central America and the Caribbean, La Macarena, Bogota, Colombia (2013) *''Vanishing Point,'' Nitch Museum, Naples, Italy (2013) * ''Prodigal Son'', Witch House, Liverpool, UK (2010) Source:

References

Cuban artists Performance artists 1989 births Living people {{DEFAULTSORT:Martiel, Carlos