“Huanca’s performers confront our instinctive reactions to flesh, which becomes both a familiar, decorative object and an abstract, inaccessible subject”
Huanca’s work draws attention to the body and in particular the skin, which is simultaneously the surface on which our personhood is inscribed and the surface through which we experience the world around us. By exposing the naked body and concealing it under layers of paint, cosmetics and latex, Huanca’s performers confront our instinctive reactions to flesh, which becomes both a familiar, decorative object and an abstract, inaccessible subject.
Donna Huanca's first publication includes extensive documentation of the exhibition SCAR CYMBALS and an overview of her practice and its development over the last four years. The book includes commissioned texts by Reba Maybury, Hili Perlson, Kathy Noble and Venus Lau, and the exhibition’s curator Maitreyi Maheshwari as well as statements from some of Huanca’s models who have collaborated with her over a number of projects.