Priscilla Aleman transforms the Sunroom into a devotional environment that references the body as an innate, recurring symbol used in ceremonies to convey the sacred, the afterlife and the deities of our time. An homage to traditional sculptures and ancient symbolism, Aleman examines material culture and ecological transformations in the Americas, creating sites for ritualized performances and spiritual contemplation. Citing the ocean as a connective tissue, Origins of Devotion speculates historic and imagined moments of contact between peoples of the Global South by bringing together materials collected from related regions, including belongings from Aleman’s Caribbean family members, replicas of Pre-Columbian artifacts and tropical flora from various horticultural facilities, including Wave Hill.
Drawing on her Colombian-Cuban heritage, Aleman is inspired by powerful spiritual beings, particularly their variations in written and oral histories and how they shape our understanding of ecological landscapes. One of the veiled figurative sculptures in this exhibition reference Yemaya, a water goddess worshiped in African diasporic cultures associated with rivers, oceans, nature and nurture. Aleman situates the figures among various live plants, relics and handmade objects to create a shrine-like setting. In her work, Aleman equates the practice of thoughtful assemblage with the care and ritual required to tend the garden, connecting the physical and sacred realms.