Debajo del Agua: the wake work of Enerolisa Núñez
manuel arturo abreu 

The dominican non-disciplinary and non-binary artist and poet manuel arturo abreu will contribute three works to the Study Room – two moving image works and one textual work. Ephemeral sculpture, text-based performance, and a concern with new connections between cultural expressions are central to the artistic practice. Language is understood as an abstract means of artistic expression that abreu uses to question conventional interpretations and canonizations of artistic manifestations.

manuel arturo abreu look at the Afro-Dominican musician Enerolisa Núñez, who is also called the ​“Queen of the Salve”. The Salve or Palo is a music genre that is threatened with extinction and at the same time rich in tradition. It is of Dominican origin and has religious or spiritual echoes. The artist focuses on Enerolisa Núñez and her family band, showing some examples of their music, as well as of the palo genre in general, and examining their history and context. abreu criticize the narrowing of palo to ​“folklore” and nationalist cultural property, and express the genre as part of a vibrant yet resistant African culture. Núñez and other musicians find themselves in a difficult starting position, where cultural achievements that are not part of the Christian Dominican mainstream are exploited and marginalized. Nevertheless, they work tirelessly and with all their energy to maintain the fullness of African spirituality. Not least of these are issues such as self-healing and preserving the traditions of the community.

This talk was organized for the 2020 Black Feminist Summer School, a program of the Black Feminist Kitchen.

manuel arturo abreu (*1991, Santo Domingo, lives in Portland, Oregon) is a non-disciplinary and non-binary artist and poet. Works were included in shows at the AAILA Gallery, Los Angeles; Paragon Gallery, Portland; and the New Museum, New York, among others. Writings were published in magazines such as Rhizome and Art in America.