Study for "Elevata" 2001

Curator: This is Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons' "Study for Elevata," currently residing in the Harvard Art Museums. It's a sketch, really, a preparation for something larger. Editor: It feels like a storm brewing, all those swirling lines and the heavy gray wash. There's a real sense of impending something, but also, strangely, a kind of contained energy. Curator: Campos-Pons’ work often deals with themes of diaspora and memory, particularly in relation to her Afro-Cuban heritage. This piece, though abstract, hints at those complex histories. Editor: I see it. The grid underneath all the chaos suggests a structure, a framework. Is it about trying to map or contain something that's essentially uncontainable, like memory itself? Curator: Precisely. The "Elevata" it prefigures was clearly monumental and I suspect Campos-Pons was grappling with not just the final composition but with the weight of history itself. Editor: The way the dark ink pools at the bottom, almost like roots, gives me chills. It is like she's grounding an intangible experience in something tangible. A powerful feeling!