2010 - 2017, 12’ diameter, 500 eye portraits installation, watercolor on paper
Ojo II explores the human response to political, economic, and natural disasters and human rights abuses. Those who watch and those who are watched.
Residency at BRIC Workspace Program, Brooklyn, NY
2013, 160 eye portraits, watercolor on paper installation, 6’ dia. size variable
Thessaloniki Center of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki, Greece
This is a series of installations, sculptures, and paintings which explore the human response to political, economic, and human rights abuses. Debe Costar un Ojo de la Cara is an installation of 160 watercolor eye portraits in the form of a human iris. It conveys the human emotion brought out by disasters such as the September 11 Attacks.
2013, frescoes, amulets, glass beads, metal, chain, 60” l x 10” w
2010, glass beads on clay sculpture, wood, 10” h x 5” w x 5” d
Jonathan Ferrara Gallery, New Orleans, LA
Private collection
Stone Baby, 2013, found objects. pigment, glass beads, metal beads, ribbon, 5.5' l x 3.5' w x 2' d
“Esperanza Cortés’s installations and paintings in Entre Sombras - Site of Memories are tokens of human frailty, fears, and injustices that as a woman, mother, Colombian and Latina shape the world she sees. The Lorenzo Homar Gallery was fully resurfaced and smoothed as an essential part of the installation. Working with glass beads, clay, pigments and household objects such as chairs, sewing machine tables, metal chains and a basket she transformed into a bassinet, Cortés seeks to connect with individuals on a primal level, jolting the viewer with the familiarity of these objects against the otherwise stark presentation. She sees the female form and femininity as a center that is encircled and encompassed by compassion, violence, life, death, place and belonging.
The works presented here touch on the consequences of violence on women through war and abuse, exploitation of resources, financial insecurity, birth and death, and racial profiling.
Cortés, born in Bogotá, Colombia, emigrated to New York City at the age of four. Her interest in art began as a child and was shaped by her experiences in the Catholic Church through its ceremonies, altars, architecture and stained glass windows. She was also drawn into the arts by her family, her father’s work with metal, her mother’s knitting, beadwork and crocheting, and her grandmother’s cooking and stories of her native Colombia. As an artist, she sees a duality between personal and community roles. Within the gallery walls, her work feeds on her personal visions and experiences. Out in the streets, her methodology changes. Her work reacts to the environment, and, as she describes, is ‘in dialogue with its surroundings.’
Cortés lives and works in New York and has exhibited widely throughout the United States in places such as the Neuberger Museum of Art, The Bronx Museum of Art, El Museo del Barrio, the Cleveland Art Museum, and the Mexic-Arte Museum in Texas.”
-Curator Rafael Damast
2008 - 2010, table, mirror, glass beads on clay sculptures
54” l x 36” h x 20” d
This installation honors the Curandera (healer) in Latinx culture, individuals who have dedicated their lives to maintaining the physical and spiritual well-being and equilibrium of their families and communities. The works represent the instruments and fruits of their labors.
2008, glass beads on clay sculpture
8" h x 7" l x 6" d
2010, clay, wood, 14” l x 9” w x 8” d
Las Desaparecidas notes the ongoing struggle for human rights and the resulting disappearance of people around the world. Overlooked and ignored by the powerful, their lives inspire and effect change in their communities and the world at large.
2010, clay, wood
2013, pennies, chain, 13' l x 6' w x 6' d
The exploitation of lands throughout the world for their resources often incorporates the utilization and exploitation of human capital. The human sacrifice that goes unrecognized in the attainment of wealth then appears nonsensical in comparison.
2017, Video installation - hand painted eye portraits, 18'