Gabrielle Civil’s Poetic Exploration of Belonging and Displacement

Description

Texas Review Press, paperback

Publication Date: October 1, 2022

Publisher Marketing: What does it mean to be in a place and out of place at the same time? Gabrielle Civil explores this question by making black feminist performance art in Mexico. She asks unsuspecting Mexicans if they have good hair, visits legendary black expatriate artist Elizabeth Catlett, celebrates Obama’s first election with mariachis, embarks on love affairs, dresses up as a Mexican doll, and christens herself with Negrita rum. Archiving her 2008-2009 Fulbright fellowship project, In and Out of Place combines diary entries, images, performance texts, critical commentary, and current reflections. Civil explores–and expands–the parameters of her own body, artistic process, heritage, and culture. She retraces–and activates–her trajectory as a black woman artist in the world.

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