NYAB Event - Larissa Bates “Mama Lengua: Mother Tongue”

Larissa Bates “Mama Lengua: Mother Tongue”

Monya Rowe Gallery

This event has ended.

Mama Lengua: Mother Tongue features a series of new small-scale
paintings by Larissa Bates exploring identity, loss and class. The works,
most no larger than 12 by 9 inches and painstakingly detailed using
gouache and gold leaf, range from landscapes and still lifes to interiors
and family portraits. As the title suggests, family and cultural identity
plays a large role. How does ones’ background shape their identity? In
this case, the artist focuses on Costa Rica and her families’ involvement
with the United Fruit Company; even though Bates’ mother is from Costa
Rica, she herself has not spent a large amount of time there. There is a
conflicted sense of identity and guilt permeating throughout. The United
Fruit Company brought jobs and railroads to Costa Rica, but with
modernity came doom. The land and workers were exploited and Costa
Rica became a tourist destination for the wealthy as the natives became
poorer and lost control of their own country.

Media

• Painting
• Drawing

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