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Jim Campbell
William Kentridge
Mariko Mori
Pepón Osorio
Tony Oursler
Nam June Paik
Peter Sarkisian

Pepón Osorio
Canción de Cuna para una Madre (Lullaby for a Mother), 1998
rug and DVD video projection, 4 minutes
148 x 96 inches
courtesy Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, Miami, Florida

Pepón Osorio's multimedia installations combine elements of popular culture, domestic life and performance to address political and cultural issues concerning Latino communities in the United States. Born in Santurce, Puerto Rico in 1955, Osorio moved to New York in 1975. A former social worker involved primarily in Latino communities, the artist became interested in how stereotypes, personal and ethnic identities and social problems can be exposed in order to effect social change.

In Canción, Osorio contrasts the troubling social issue of teenage pregnancy with the loving, nurturing relationship between a mother and child. The image of a fifteen-year-old girl cradling her baby is projected from the ceiling onto a lush carpet silk-screened with the image of a crib. As the two sleep peacefully, the baby's grandmother sings a Mexican lullaby that represents intergenerational support as well as the importance of oral history for cultural preservation. The theme of the lullaby is maternal love, but also the need for the baby to sleep so that mother can work the next day.

The placement of both mother and child in the crib refers to their mutual vulnerability. Contrasting with the color video image of the figures, the black and white crib, filled with soft toys, represents a dream of security. Osorio's sensitive treatment of teenage motherhood both broadens and humanizes an issue that is too often discussed in simplistic ways as evidenced by the popular phrase "babies having babies."

Tiffany Ana Lopez, "Imaging Community: Video in the Installation Work of Pepón Osorio," Art Journal 54, no. 4 (1995): 58-64.

Pepón Osorio, telephone interview by David Hart, 17 May 2000.

Suggested Links:

artincontext.org
Review - Pepón Osorio's Badge of Honor at Ronald Feldman Fine Arts