February 14 – Opening and Reception
Faculty-Driven Exhibition #3
Remembering Jaider Esbell
Curated by Professor Daniel Segal
Opening reception and comments:
Professors Daniel Segal and Bill Anthes,
McConnell Living Room, 4:15 pm
Exhibition
Feb. 14 – Mar. 25, 2023
Pitzer College, McConnell Living Room
Exhibition info: Remembering Jaider Esbell
Reception
Tuesday, Feb. 14, 4:15 – 5:00 p.m.
Pitzer College, McConnell Living Room
Remembering Jaider Esbell
Artist-Activist Jaider Esbell (1979-2021) was artist-in-resident at Pitzer in 2013. Esbell was born and raised in the Macuxi community in the northern Amazon, in the now legally demarcated territory, Terra Indigena Raposa Serra do Sol. At the end of his residency at Pitzer, Esbell gave the painting Woman with a Basket of Fruit (pictured above) to the college in appreciation of the faculty, students, and staff he had worked with at the college.
About the artist:
An Indigenous Macuxi, Esbell became one of the most prominent Indigenous artists, of any historical era, in South America. Esbell died in 2021, while exhibiting at the 34th Biennial of São Paolo and shortly after several of his works were acquired by The Centre Pompidou, Paris. In 2022, a large selection of Esbell’s work was shown at the 59th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale: The Milk of Dreams, curated by Cecilia Alemani.
During his residency, he co-curated the exhibition Cattle in the Amazon with Daniel Segal, the Jean M. Pitzer Professor of Anthropology and Professor of History at the College. Esbell also co-taught a course on Macuxi myths with Pitzer anthropology professor Lêda Martins, and they co-produced, with their students, a collaborative artwork illustrating key Macuxi myths.
Read Jaider Esbell’s obituary in Artforum: http://bit.ly/3jv8gLn
Acknowledgments:
Professor Daniel Segal extends his gratitude to IGLAS, the Agnes Jackson Fund of the Campus Life Committee, and the Stu McConnell Memorial Fund for their generous support in funding this event, as well as to Pitzer’s Study Abroad and International Programs Office, Pitzer’s Portuguese language faculty, Juanita Aristizabal and Joana Grande (2022-23 Fulbright Language Fellow), and the extraordinary Pitzer College Art Galleries team for all their hard work in realizing this exhibition and reception.
Remembering Jaider Esbell is curated by Daniel Segal, the Jean M. Pitzer Professor of Anthropology and Professor of History, and is the third Faculty-Driven exhibition produced in partnership with Pitzer College Art Galleries.
