Artist Hoesy Corona Brings Performance Art to Adkins Arboretum May 7, 2023

RIDGELY, MD:

In pieces spanning sculpture, textiles and performance, Baltimore-based artist Hoesy Corona creates and curates art that quietly confronts some of the most pressing issues of our time. On Sunday, May 7, 2023 Corona will present Terrestrial Caravan, a work of site-specific performance art that explores the complex relationship between humans and the environment, at Adkins Arboretum. The free event runs from 1 to 3 p.m. All are invited to attend.

Presented in dialogue with Corona’s Terrestrial Caravan exhibition on view through August at the Academy Art Museum in Easton, Md., the performance is part of the ongoing performance Climate Immigrants (2017–present), which both reflects the artist’s ruminations on climate-related displacement and highlights our connection to nature and the fragility of our settled experience. Using the archetype of the traveler, Corona tackles the reality of the human aspect of climate change while simultaneously drawing attention to the powers of nature and celebrating the lushness and vibrancy of flora, bodies of water and geographic forms.

Implicating ideas of land, borders and environmental displacement in the face of fires, changing climate patterns and rising waters, performers wear Corona’s Climate Ponchos—colorful full-body suits that hide their identities while making them hyper visible. While the form of the Climate Ponchos recalls a simple rain poncho, the wearable sculptures’ dynamic patterns tell colorful stories of migration and history, depicting mundane scenes of mothers and other travelers on their journeys and ultimately humanizing the anonymous silhouettes on the ponchos and on the Arboretum grounds.

Corona lived in Mexico, Utah and Wisconsin before moving to Baltimore in 2005 to establish a professional practice in the arts. He develops otherworldly narratives that center marginalized individuals in society by exploring a process-based practice that investigates what it means to be a queer Latinx immigrant in a place where there are few. He has exhibited widely in galleries, museums and public spaces in the U.S. and internationally, including at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C. Corona is the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including the Nicholson Project artist residency, the Mellon Foundation’s MAP Fund Grant and the Andy Warhol Foundation’s Grit Fund Grant. He is a current resident artist at The Creative Alliance in Baltimore.

Terrestrial Caravan is presented in partnership with the Academy Art Museum. While the performance is free, advance registration at adkinsarboretum.org or by calling 410-634-2847 is appreciated to help with planning. In the event of rain, the performance will be rescheduled for Sunday, May 14, 1–3 p.m.

The mission of the Academy Art Museum is to promote the knowledge, practice, and appreciation of the arts and to enhance cultural life on the Eastern Shore by making available to everyone the Museum’s expanding collection, exhibitions, and broad spectrum of arts programs.

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A 400-acre native garden and preserve, Adkins Arboretum provides exceptional experiences in nature to promote environmental stewardship.