It has been quite a chore to send the package in since Costa Rica doesn’t adhere to the ATA Carnet For Temporary Admission (a requirement to send artworks to Poland). Thanks to prompt mediation work by the Polish Embassy’s Cultural Attaché in Mexico, however, I was given permission to send my work via courier. Therefore, once DHL actually delivers (it is three days late today), I will start making travel plans to attend this prestigious triennial’s inauguration ceremonies.

Silvia Piza-Tandlich. The following is my description of my work, which was sent to the Central Museum of Textiles:

Lately, I have entered into my own life’s autumn just as the world seems to be in transition. I see myself, my mature husband, adult children, aching pets aching country aching world… all waiting for the best possible next scenario. In addition to the generalized feeling of confusion presently experienced by everyone on the planet, living in Latin America means being in a state of permanent financial crisis, yet surviving it and moving on. Nevertheless, today’s webs seem fixed in midair with turmoil underneath. Amazingly, however, this instability has turned out to be a second force guiding my inspiration.

I have developed appreciation and comfort in Indigenous creation. The expressions of Indigenous cultures are timeless, transparent, and seemly simple. As my personal life turns towards basic chores and pleasures, my artistic expression appears to flourish into a handmade mixture of Indigenous-based, contemporary elements conveying personal, political, and cultural yearnings into a visual element where past and present converge.

My work, “Still In Time” is a double-sided piece reflecting double-sided elements: past/present, naïveness/complication, modern materials applied with my own techniques, and traditional techniques used in innovating ways. Each side of the piece depicts an Indigenous mask, but there’s no telling which one represents the past or the present since both are sides of convergence.

It is my intention to reveal myself as a member of a world that tries to make us all similar, a cultural setting demanding us to be diverse, as well as an artist inspired by the environment and the times converging within me—shaping my identity, and making me unique.

…”Recientemente, he entrado en el otoño de mi vida, justo en un momento en que el mundo entero parece estar en transición. Madura me veo a mí misma y a mi esposo, ambos con hijas adultas, mascotas dolientes país doliente mundo doliente: todos esperando el mejor próximo escenario posible. Además del sentimiento generalizado de confusión —el cual experimentamos todos en el planeta— la vida en Latinoamérica nos brinda un estado permanente de crisis financiera y, aun así, sobrevivimos y salimos adelante. Sin embargo, las redes de hoy día parecieran estar suspendidas en el aire, con tumulto por debajo. Creo que es increíble, por lo tanto, que esta inestabilidad resulte ser una fuerza secundaria que pueda guiar mi inspiración.

Me encanta la creación Indígena, la cual no tiene tiempo, pero sí es transparente y parece tan simple. Mientras mi vida básica se ocupa de quehaceres y placeres básicos, mi expresión artística parece renovarse con una mezcla hecha a mano, basada en lo indígeno: elementos contemporáneos representando lo personal, lo político y lo cultural dentro de mi elemento visual, donde el pasado y el presente, se juntan.

“Suspendidos en el tiempo” es una pieza de doble cara, con elementos de dos lados: pasado y presente; ingenuidad y complicación; materiales modernos aplicados con mis propias técnicas, y técnicas tradicionales usadas de manera innovadora. Cada lado representa una máscara indígena, pero no sabemos cuál es cuál, pues ambas convergen.

Trato de revelarme como miembro de un mundo que nos quiere a todas homogéneas; un ambiente cultural que nos pide diversidad;  un mundo artístico propio inspirado por todo lo que converge en mí misma, formando mi identidad y haciéndome única”…

—Silvia Piza-Tandlich, October 2011, Costa Rica

After falling on the floor, the camera started to fail, but I actually like this effect!