Uncovering America
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A MEETING BETWEEN TWO WORLDS
THE ONE
BETWEEN TWO HUMAN BEINGS
WHO LOOK INTO EACH OTHER’S EYES FOR THE FIRST TIME
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Genova, Italy 12 October 2018
Castello D'Albertis
Museum of the Cultures
CONCEPT
On October 12, 2018, on the occasion of what is remembered as the day of the discovery of America in the United States it is celebrated as Columbus Day, AJ Goldman Dine´ artist and Lucia Palmero an Italian performer, gave life to an artistic action aimed to celebrate a new way of establishing a human contact and a bridge between two worlds on the day of Columbus in Christopher Columbus' birthplace.
AJ Goldman and Lucia Palmero interpreted their perception of the "mask", from a Native-American and an Italian point of view.
During the performance, AJ wore a golden mask of Italian origins to symbolize the close correlation in the collective imagination between the idea of "New World" and "Discovery" with the thirst for possession of natural resources - gold.
Lucia wore a mask that she made using the pages of the school books related to the discovery of America to underline how it covers and prevents view. The way it is crafted is like waste paper and the shape of a flag. This mask represents for Lucia the distortion of information by the scholastic system that obscures knowledge rather than discloses it.
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THE ACTION
AJ first walks into the Columbian Hall and sees the statue of the young Columbus, an idolized monument without flaws. He sits behind the statue of the young innocent looking Columbus. He gives life to a distorted statue as an Indigenous person with torn clothes wearing a gold face because the truth of the persecution of his heritage is hidden by greed.
His character displays resiliency, filling the atmosphere with a higher power and strong energy that contrasts with the portrait of a young and innocent Columbus.
Around him, in the Colombian Hall of the Castle of Albertis, is his photography exhibition (Hidden Identities) of Native Americans where they too are portrayed wearing a mask but shown as a fantasized possession.
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GALLERY
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