A small piece of Minaya’s sprawling and evocative mural.

New Bwogger Flor Hodge walked one block to attend the Creative Conversation with Joiri Minaya concerning her new site-specific mural in the lobby of Miller Theatre Redecode II: La Dorada. Like Minaya, she is also Dominican-American.

The people above age 21 spread across the lobby awkwardly. They do not seem to understand how this conversation will take place – where the seating will be, where Minaya will stand when she speaks. In the meantime, they make sure to take advantage of the free wine. The mural covers the wall on the north side of the lobby, and continues onto the wall perpendicular to it on the eastern side. These two walls are separated from the south side by an arch and on the other side of the western wall are the stairs where people could go up and treat themselves to snacks and wine. The mural also covers the western wall located across from the stairs, also on the other side of the arch . Ultimately, they crowd near the doors in order to see the piece in as much fullness as they can.

I see a woman who looks like she could be my aunt’s daughter, but I don’t talk to her just yet. She ends up being Joiri Minaya, the Dominican-Artist whose mural is displayed in Miller Theatre lobby. Two or three people are at her heels and make small talk. They try to be as welcoming as possible. They praise the humble artist; she accepts it and treats them all warmly.

I bet you $1 your Art Hum professor hasn’t told you about her. After the event, I have a conversation with Minaya. She has been creating art for as long as she can remember, and she’s never had any doubts that that is the career she wanted to pursue. Her mother was worried about her becoming a starving artist and hoped she would pursue a more “normal” career in something like anthropology, but art was it for her. And her dedication has paid off.

Minaya’s mural lines the walls of the Miller Theater lobby. Pixelated palm trees reminiscent of her heritage and bursts of red pink pixelated flowers. Nature, relatively untouched by man. It is a critique on colonialism and the erasure of native knowledge that arises from it. Fuck you Columbus. What is most inviting and transportative to paradise is the light blue that pervades the mural. It is a pixelated version of the “El Dorado” wallpaper designed in 1848 by Zuber et Cie. Perhaps the oldest continuously running wallpaper company, it was founded in 1797. It became famous for producing elaborate scenic wallpapers, like this one, many of which were sold in the US. In the original wallpaper, palm trees and pink and red flora line the foreground at regular intervals. In between the plants, there are paths that lead to various pieces of architecture that tend to be associated with the continents depicted. Looking at it, it’s obvious Minaya has turned the depiction on it’s head.

An art director from a museum in the Bronx reads from a paper, which really just has the same information that has been provided on the event pamphlet. She mentions that she was the one that commissioned Minaya and then asks Minaya about her process, to which Minaya responds that is it very research based. One project leads to the other. The work has an aura of vacation and freshness. Minaya was interested in how this vacation and freshness were domesticated even though this was done during a time where the US was trying to make improvements in these lands. She mentions that the wallpaper that this is based on was made by French people and mainly consumed by Americans – some of them would try to picture the tribes of these tropical lands. While the wallpapers from this company tried to be educational, they were littered with stereotypes.

Minaya explains that visibility was something she started paying attention to. Her pixilation is not random. She wanted the palms to be recognized – because of the history of the palms — and she wants the architecture to be recognized as well, so she does not pixelate them as much. In the original wallpaper Europe is centered and stairs located in the middle are the only entrance for the viewer. She purposefully decenters it, and we end up looking at that part of the mural last while we viewed Oceania, Africa and some other continent first.

Throughout the mural, Minaya has sprinkled various QR codes which foster an interactive experience with the work. On the north side of the lobby, where Oceania is pictured, one of the QR codes link to an article about 5 women pioneers and on the west side of the lobby, where Europe is depicted a QR code links to an article called “The Invention of the White Race,” all which she hopes will be in conversation with the piece.

Unapologetic about where she comes from and what she seeks to dismantle, she sheds light on what most of us do not know due to a Western-European centric education. Make sure to check this mural out before it is gone.

Minaya’s mural will be displayed in the Miller Theatre lobby until June 28th 2019.

Minaya’s mural via Miller Theatre