Art on the Plaza: Yanira Collado's For those who transcend in the wind/En los Ritmos de Oya/ Nan ritm yo Oya

Opening March 13th , sculptor Yanira Collado will showcase, For those who transcend in the wind/En los Ritmos de Oya/ Nan ritm yo Oya, a series of wind-propelled pinwheels, placed in MOCA’s fountain, which serve as a symbolic gesture representing joy, protection, spirituality, and the cycles of life, particularly within the African Diaspora of the Caribbean and Black North American communities.

Collado’s practice engages concepts that allude to the restoration of things once muted due to the paradoxes in time and the disruption of indigenous cultures, summoned through materials such as reclaimed literary texts, wood, textiles, concrete, iron and drywall. With these materials, she creates an interplay with inherent geographic histories.

Emphasizing this part of her practice, the pinwheels will be decorated with specific visual elements: varying tones of blue, associated with healing and protection in African traditions; patterns inspired by African geometrical creations and ancestral inheritance, reflecting the spiritual essence; and irregularities in the patterns reminiscent of Shoowa cut-pile embroidery from the Kuba Kingdom, symbolizing cultural continuity and resilience.

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