Miami Artist Brings Embroidered Selfies to Foosaner Art Museum
Cuban Émigré Aurora Molina’s Art
Examines Self-Identity, Feminism
MELBOURNE, FLA. — A unique version of the cellphone selfie will be on view at Florida Tech’s Foosaner Art Museum as the exhibition Aurora Molina: The Selfie Project opens its three-month run Saturday, Feb. 16.
The Selfie Project features hundreds of embroidered sculptures by the Miami-based Molina, a figurative fiber artist who uses thread to communicate her subversive narratives.
Through these complex, embroidered artworks, Molina examines the egocentricity that informs the modern phenomena of the “selfie” and a person’s desperate need for attention. She highlights the addictive nature of the selfie – the publicity fix – and creates a series of sculptures that project pop culture’s drug-like dependency on social acceptance, according to her statements.
The selfie becomes a self-perpetuating social disease that feeds off of its own self-indulgence and complacency, leaving little or no room for self-examination, Molina suggests.
Molina was born in Havana, Cuba, in 1984. She emigrated from Havana to the United States at the age of 16, where she opted to pursue an education in art. Molina received a bachelor’s degree in fine arts specializing in mixed media from Florida International University and a master’s degree in contemporary art at the Universidad Europea de Madrid in Spain.
Her art explores themes ranging from national identity and immigration to self-identity and feminism, staging Molina’s personal history within universal experiences of women and minorities in the United States and Cuba.
In an event in conjunction with the exhibition, Molina will lead “Embroidering a Flattering Selfie” workshops for children and adults on Feb. 16 at the Renee Foosaner Education Center, 1520 Highland Ave. The children’s session is from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and the adult session is from 3-6 p.m. The price is $50 for Foosaner Art Museum members and $65 for non-members, with registration available at https://foosanerartmuseum.org/.
Aurora Molina: The Selfie Project will be on display through May 25.
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