ruby rumié: halito divino at art paris art fair

grand palais, paris   |   march 31 - april 3, 2016

PARIS – NH Galería brings Ruby Rumié’s HÁLITO DIVINO – DIVINE BREATH to Paris for the first time, after being exhibited in New York and Colombia.

This one-person exhibition is a result of a workshop conducted in 2013 in the neighborhood of Getsemaní, in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, where the artist is originally from. The project focuses on the experiences of 100 women between the ages of 18 and 72, who have been victims of domestic violence. HÁLITO DIVINO (Divine Breath) uses pain and trauma to create and express, restore and heal.

At the beginning of the workshop, each participant chose one of 100 white pots arranged for them. They then exhaled their pain inside the pot, as an intimate and individual exercise that culminated the experience of breath as a force of life. At the end, the pots were sealed and marked with the initials of each participant, a symbolic gesture to encapsulate their pain. Each of them was given the figure of a woman, cast using the ancestral lost-wax technique, as an amulet, a token symbolizing her participation.

The exhibition reflects the three phases of the project. Hálito Divino-White Vessels is a compilation of photographs of the white pots used in the workshop, while Hálito Divino-Black Vessels represents a stage of mourning with photographs of black pots. As if they were coming off the walls from the photographed vessels, the pots of different sizes take the rest of the exhibition, crowned by delicate gold metalwork resembling the amulets the women received as a symbol of their rebirth; as well as a Small Cupula made entirely of these amulets.

Ruby Rumié has continued her questioning of the artist’s commitment to society, putting herself in a position where she deeply assimilates the information given by her interviewees, and looking for a creative way of managing social and psychological issues. The whole experience included interdisciplinary round tables that dealt with this issue.

Born in Cartagena de Indias, Ruby Rumié studied in the School of Fine Arts of Cartagena de Indias. She has held major exhibi­tions in Bogotá, Barranquilla and Cartagena, Colombia; Santiago, Chile; Miami, FL; New York; Washington D.C.; Rouen and Paris, France. Rumié recently participated in the international section of the First Biennial of Contemporary Art, Cartagena de Indias. She currently lives and works in Cartagena, Colombia and Santiago, Chile.

The artist will be present.