Archive

NAME: Julia Barbosa Landois, 29

BEST KNOWN FOR: Performance works and video that examine people’s relationships with their bodies, as well as spirituality, memory and identity.

A San Antonio native, Landois creates work that reflects her Catholic upbringing and the culture of South Texas and Northern Mexico, often with a feminist undercurrent.

The video “limpia (clean),” which depicts the Mexican folk practice of spiritual cleansing using an egg, explores the notions of ritual and self-purification, both literal and metaphorical.

“Window Dressing” is a video about the stigmata and mystical experiences in modern society, while “Red Hot Salsa,” which shows Landois dancing to an instructional salsa video, is about cultural identity and the commercialization of Latin culture.

CURRENTLY: The piece “Veiled in Flesh” deals with death, ritual and the relationship between spirituality and the body.

Landois lies still in a Plexiglas box for more than two hours while live mice scurry over her body. She doesn’t move except for engaging viewers through eye contact.

“I wanted it to be like I’m an object on display,” Landois said, similar to the display of art or saints’ bodies.

The mice are cute, but traditionally represent dirt and decay. “I’m trying to evoke disgust and sympathy at the same time,” she said. “That’s the way people might feel about their own bodies or the possibility of their own death.”

The exhibit also includes work on paper and photographs that reference culture and memory, as well as sculptures using oil lamps.

BACKGROUND: Landois majored in painting and women and gender studies at UTSA and earned her MFA in sculpture and new media at the University of Pennsylvania.

PAYING THE BILLS: She teaches art at Palo Alto College and the International Academy of Design and Technology.

CHECK HER OUT: The opening of “Veiled in Flesh” is from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, June 6 at Cactus Bra Space in the Blue Star Arts Complex, 1400 S. Alamo St. The exhibit is up through June 20.

Jessica Belasco | 210SA Contributor