Kallenborn Website
www.carolynkallenborn.com
Selected Exhibitions
Upcoming: Flor y Cantos
Museo Rufino Tamayo Oaxaca, Oaxaca Mexico
July – August 2017
Inspired by the poem of the Aztec poet Nezahualcóyotl Flores y Cantos uses imagery, light, shadow and sound to create a space of quiet contemplation. As a metaphor for moving through time, video imagery of the natural world is projected through layers of floating transparent fabrics. As an interactive installation, visitors are asked to think of their own contribution and in return, take something back that someone else has left. Like Netzahualcoyótl’s poem the exhibition asks us to think about why we are here and what we hope to leave behind. At least let us leave flowers. At least let us leave song.
La Luz y La Sombra
Biblioteca Principal Oaxaca, Oaxaca Mexico
October – November 2016
Edgewood College Gallery
October – November 2014
http://www.lavidaylosmuertos.com/latd_exhibition.html
La luz y sombra shares the experience of Day of the Dead as a beautiful and poetic alternative view that embraces death and our relationship to our loved ones who have passed. Spending a few days each year acknowledging and honoring death and the dead emphasizes the importance of enjoying life deeply by reminding us that we will not be here forever.
Remembrance and Celebration
Bay Shore Art Center, Long Island NY
October- November 2015
Edgewood College Gallery, Madison WI
October – November 2014 and 2015
http://www.lavidaylosmuertos.com/latd_community.html
This project was inspired by altar making traditions in Mexico for Day of the Dead but community and personal altars of remembrance are created all over the world. We invited individuals, artists, students, friends, family, churches, hospice group and others to take part in a community exhibition. We were amazed at the level of interest in this project, thrilled by the number of people who wanted to participate, and deeply touched by how personal the work became for so many people.
In the Press:
A Happy Party for the Dead, Oaxaca Style – Wisconsin State Journal
Tormentas Y Sueños
Museo Textil de Oaxaca
July – November 2012
Hong Kong Polytechnic University Hong Kong, China
January – February 2014
The pieces in this exhibition speak to the beauty of the interaction between opposites. In each piece, one feeling is dominant, but there is an element of another. In pain, there is beauty. In growth, there are things that are discarded. In passion there is shame. Communication, hearts and relationships are broken, then mended. And the mending, like a scar, become evidence of torments past and the dreams to heal.
Interview recorded in Spanish. Presented here with English subtitles.
Posted with permission of CorTV
Oaxaca. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpo0yCni5mM
Set Design
Flautistico 2015
Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014
http://www.carolynkallenborn.com/set-design
Woven Lives
Contemporary Textiles from Oaxacan Traditions
www.wovenlivesoaxaca.com
Drawing upon the richness of sights, sounds and beauty of the people and landscape of Oaxaca, Mexico, Woven Lives provides a fascinating look at contemporary Zapotec weavers from six different villages. This colorful documentary celebrates their extraordinary textiles and illustrates how the art of weaving cloth has helped the Zapotecs retain their culture and identity for thousands of years. The story traces the integration of ancient techniques with new technologies and explores how the artisans are now looking to the past to help them move forward into the future.al
La Vida Y Los Muertos
Day of the Dead, Oaxaca, Mexico
www.lavidaylosmuertos.com
La Vida y Los Muertos is a visually rich film that captures the beauty, the joy, the sadness and the magic of the Day of the Dead in Oaxaca, Mexico. From elaborately decorated graves, to frightening demon dancers, to lavish home altars, and enormous sand paintings, the film takes you on a journey through the city of Oaxaca and five nearby villages during the days of the festival. Wandering through the festively decorated streets, homes and graveyards is like passing through hundreds of private conversations between those that are living and those that have passed on. Like the festival itself, the film comes alive as the music dances and interacts with the imagery in a joyous celebration of life.