The Temporary Contemporary
This exhibition of Betye Saar’s assemblages and installations was commissioned by MOCA to accompany ten performances of Ellen Sebastian’s theatrical production Sanctified, both homages to the legendary author Zora Neale Hurston.
Sanctified Visions paid homage to Hurston by tracing the writer’s life from rural Florida to New York, Jamaica, Haiti, and back to Florida, with groupings of works symbolically related to each place and time. The first room in the show included a curved, corrugated wall, evoking a rural shanty, and a floor-painted vèvè, a Haitian Vodou symbol used to call or welcome spirits. On the walls were bead and sequin pieces designed by Saar and fabricated by artists from Haiti, as well as an electronic sign programmed with phrases from Hurston’s writing and the script for Sanctified. The following room included various assemblage works symbolizing Hurston’s spiritual being, incorporating moss, sand, stones, and branches alongside man-made objects like rusted belt buckles, hairpins, and pieces of fabric. At the end, a neon, flashing sign visually drew visitors into the adjacent performance space for Sanctified.
The joint exhibitions were accompanied by a limited-edition artist book co-created by Saar and Sebastian, published by MOCA.
Sanctified and Sanctified Visions were organized by Julie Lazar, Curator, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.
The Temporary Contemporary is the original name of The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA.