About This Exhibit
This online exhibition features collaborative hand papermaking editions by Venezuelan Yanomami artist, Sheroanawë Hakihiiwë. They were created at the Center for Book, Paper & Print under the direction of Melissa Hilliard Potter, Associate Professor at Columbia College Chicago.
In 2010 Potter curated, Among Tender Roots, the first retrospective of Laura Anderson Barbata's work featuring her practice in hand papermaking. Her work with Hakihiiwë's community, which was a central focus of the exhibition, inspired Alvaro Gonzalez Bastidas, a long-time collaborator of Hakihiiwë's, to travel to Chicago with him in Spring of 2011. It is extremely rare for Yanomami community members to travel outside their community, and even moreso to the United States--this was the first to Chicago. During their visit, Potter designed the first of three collaborations produced with MFA candidates in Book & Paper at the Center's papermaking studio to feature the work of Hakihiiwë in this medium.
The artworks produced contribute to the rare documentation created by the Yanomami about their community, as their historical tradition is predominantly oral. The symbols featured in the artworks are inspired by Hakihiiwë's mother, who like other women in the community painted these symbols on babies for protection.
The online exhibition of this work was produced in Professor Potter's graduate Art as Practice course in Spring 2017.
Student Curators
- Colleen McCulla, Book and Paper
- Robyn Day, Photography
- Sarah Hiatt, Photography
- DW McCraven, Interdisciplinary Arts
- Willa Goettling, Book and Paper
- Lynn Elam, Book and Paper
- Phil Worfel, Interdisciplinary Arts
Exhibits are copyright of Columbia College Chicago. Exclusions apply. Click on specific items to view their copyright status.