“CUERPOS LLEVADOS” (CARRIED BODIES) is a performance about struggle, imposed limitations, resistance, and liberation. Inspired by female ship figureheads and commemorative sculptures, “Carried Bodies” proposes the use of performance art as a tool of self-affirmation and empowerment. “Llevados” means carried, taken, transported, oppressed, held, and cuddled by the past, by destiny, the system, and others. Using my body and a large object, I refer to personal, historical, and social ties to reveal structures that constrain our bodies. “Carried Bodies” is an attempt to overcome the limitations and invisible barriers that challenge our daily existence. Performing a series of actions that take the body into “impossible to maintain postures”, I challenge established relationships between the body, the space, and the others around us. This performance is a homage to those that—lost, or involuntarily carried by others—are trying to find their way to freedom. 

VERÓNICA PEÑA
is an interdisciplinary artist and independent curator from Spain based in the United States. Her work explores the themes of absence, separation, and the search for harmony through Performance Art. Peña is interested in migration policies, cross-cultural dialogue, and women’s empowerment. Recent works include experimental participatory performances that create shared moments amongst strangers. Peña has performed in various countries around Europe, Asia, and America. In the United States, her work has been featured at Times Square, Armory Show, Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, Queens Museum, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Grace Exhibition Space, Triskelion Arts, Defibrillator Performance Art Gallery, Momenta Art Gallery, Gabarron Foundation, Dumbo Arts Festival, and Consulate General of Spain in New York, amongst others. She is a recipient to the Franklin Furnace Fund 2017-18. She was a recipient of the Socrates and Erasmus Grants, a Universidad Complutense de Madrid Fellowship, and a candidate for the Dedalus Foundation Grant. She has published “The Presence Of The Absent”, a thesis about her body of work. She was a visiting artist at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She curates “Collective Becoming”, an initiative to make cities a place less hostile. She is currently at work on her new project about freedom, fear, and resistance, “The Substance of Unity.” http://www.veronicapena.com

NO NATION Art Gallery
1542 N Milwaukee Ave, 2nd Floor
Chicago, Illinois 60622

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