GROUND 0101 (The Fall Issue)

At the edge of time, there is a place in the caribbean sea, sedimented by
colonial legacies which is in complete denial of its own constitution. It started
in 2011 when for the XXVI Santo Domingo Visual Art Biennale that the polemic
around the content and form of the works selected and prized began, for the
XXVII biennale it turned into scandal. This year, for the XXVIII Santo Domingo
Visual Art Biennale, the internal committee at the Modern Art Museum of Santo
Domingo, foresaw what could be a risk for the statu quo. Due to the current
political climate in Dominican Republic, the governamental agenda aiming at
perpetuating a softcore dictatorship has structured means of control over every
public sector in order to dismantle subversive oppositional agencies. Recounting
the events concerning the xenophobic propaganda driven by a nationalistic
faux-pas that resolved in the lynching of three Haitian nationals as a
consequence of populist strategic initiative of former president of the Dominican
Republic Dr. Leonel Fernandez Reyna. The half an island, now remains a
narco-state, and the independent art sector is struggling as well as their artist
against censorship. Then, artists as citizens too carrie the responsibility of acting
out against the cultural demands of silence imposed. The measures installed
by the MAM committee resulted in the unconstitutional re-structure of the biennale’s
participation and eligibility condition bases. For that we connected with
artist Jay Yaport, artists selected for the XXVII edition of the biennale who until
today still pays the price of for making what is considered by Dominican art
authorities a scandalous and obscene piece of art.
Ismael Ogando. What happened to
you at the XXVII Visual Art Biennale of
Santo Domingo?
Jay Yaport. I decided to present the
piece MIX and had a premonition, I
knew that the piece was going to generate
shock, but did not expected that
to affect me as a person or as an artist.
It’s been two years already and people
still come to me with the piece, asking
why did I do that, with certain shade
in their tone. My intention with that series
of photographies was to make a
criticism to Dominican society attitude
towards sex, I criticised how we stand
in front of such a topic by presenting a
visually provocative essay that I don’t
personally consider is obscene.
As I was target of the censorship campaign
all I can now think is of leaving
this country, but unfortunately it is not
that easy for me and to find a place in
the art scene of Dominican Republic is
nearly impossible if you do not belong
to the elite, or get along with them.
IO. Did you had a mention or an award
inside the biennale?
JY. No, I did not have anything, I was
just selected, I think to be mentioned
or awarded inside this museum’s condition
is impossible with the kind of
approach I have to art. But I did have
some visibility due to the scandal, as
you were one of the only people that
seriously analysed my work, together