SARAH AND SAMANTHA FERRER: ¿QUÉ PASA, USA?

¿Qué pasa, USA?. A story told by four hands; memories contoured in graceful flashes of the past and transformed into witnesses of the present. Through their art, Sarah and Samantha Ferrer activate their historical narratives, rooted in memory and nostalgia anchored in their Cuban heritage.

Sarah and Samantha Ferrer are first-generation Cuban-American twin artists based in Miami. Their primary mediums are ceramics and painting, with a cross-disciplinary focus in both their individual works and joint projects. In their art, they explore their cultural heritage, using distinctive iconography and techniques to express their sense of belonging and spiritual connection to their ancestral culture.

Both share a nostalgic sentiment for a past glimpsed through family memories, cradle and youth stories, and accumulated testimonies throughout their lives. All of this comes to life and symbolism in the exhibition ¿Qué pasa, USA? at Mahara+Co, a remarkable project for being the first show entirely dedicated to ceramics at the gallery, thus promoting ceramic art in Florida.

¿Qué pasa, USA? is more than an exhibition; it is both in the pieces it presents and in its title. It is, without a doubt, an environment inviting participation from both viewers and artists. It is a provocation to activate personal and collective memory, breaking the veil separating yesterday from today as a poetic narrative of memory. Additionally, the title visually and linguistically plays with the first bilingual comedy on American television, depicting the challenges of a Latino family integrating into a new country and language.

Sarah and Samantha Ferrer invite us to partake in an ode to cultural memory and family ties that inhabit them. They converge in a space created from nostalgia and art, personal experiences, and memories of great emotional weight, translated into objects and representations evoking ceremonial rites, faith altars, and events that, despite their ordinary nature, reveal themselves as transcendent for them.

Each ceramic object, installation resource, and pictorial representation in this familiar environment honors their shared cultural heritage. They employ a tropical and colorful aesthetic, inspired by the local history surrounding them and nuanced by the family memories they cherish.

¿Qué pasa, USA? is a tribute to the Cuban-American experience from their personal and family perspectives within the multicultural dialogue of contemporary Miami. It is a threshold aiming to reactivate memories and connections with what we consider home: a space that transcends the physical and geographical, rooted in memories, inviting us to an introspective and nostalgic journey.

Curatorial text by Yenny Hernández Valdés

SARAH AND SAMANTHA FERRER: ¿QUÉ PASA, USA?

Mahara+Co, 224 NW 71st Street, Miami, FL, USA

Jul 25 – Aug 18, 2024