Southeastern to exhibit artwork by Cuban-American artist
Wednesday, June 14, 2023
by: Tonya Lowentritt 
HAMMOND – Southeastern Louisiana University’s Contemporary Art Gallery will present
“Rituals / Rituales,” an exhibit featuring a selection of art works made by Cuban-American
artist Maria Lino. The free exhibition is open through Aug. 29 and spans over 40 years
of Lino’s video art practice.
In the 1980s Maria Lino began filming her family with a movie camera as they
performed household chores and seemingly mundane activities like cooking, sewing,
cleaning, and caretaking explained Gallery Director Cristina Molina.
“Typically these tasks are associated with the domestic labor of women, which
has historically been taken for granted, or all together unseen,” Molina said. “While
working, members of Lino’s family share stories of immigrating to the U.S. from Cuba
and recount memories from their youth. More recent videos like ‘Drawn Stitches’ were
filmed throughout the country of Peru in collaboration with women who engage in manual
labor to support themselves and their families. In these multi-channel works, women
share their personal narratives, philosophies, and struggles as they pridefully create
typical foods and works of art.”
Exhibited for the first time at this scale, Lino’s protagonists are exalted from
their repetitive labor to figures that transcend across generations and deliver familiar
stories, Molina said.
Lino was born in Havana, Cuba, and immigrated to the United States as a child
with her parents. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Studio Art from New York University,
and a Master of Fine Arts from Florida International University. She is a Fulbright
U.S. Scholar and a two-time recipient of the Oscar B. Cintas Fellowship.
As a multidisciplinary visual artist, Lino employs drawing, printmaking, text,
video, dance, and textiles, to primarily create individual and group portraits of
those who are often overlooked, such as women, children, people with disabilities,
migrants and immigrants.
Her work has been published in “Centerpoint Now: Are We There Yet?” of the World
Council of Peoples for the United Nations. Her video “Ritmos Ancestrales” was screened
in the Smithsonian Institution’s Mother Tongue Film Festival 2022.
The gallery will hold a closing reception to celebrate the exhibition on Tuesday,
Aug. 29, at 5 p.m. Prior to the reception, Lino will give a lecture on her artwork
at 4 p.m. in the gallery lecture area located in East Stadium, room 108.
Located at 411 Ned McGehee Dr., gallery hours are Monday through Thursday from
12 to 4 p.m. during the summer, and Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
and Friday from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. beginning Aug. 7.
For more information about the exhibition, contact Molina at cmolina@southeastern.edu or at 985-549-5080.
