ISLAA Thursdays: Three Women Artists and their New York Stories

​On This Spot NYC: Stories of Pioneering Women Artists and ISLAA will present a screening of short documentaries on Marisol, Liliana Porter, and Cecilia Vicuña, three artists whose lives and careers were shaped by New York.

Together, the films explore the ways place, immigration, identity, and community shaped their experiences and artistic practices in Tribeca. The screening will be followed by a conversation led by Edward Sullivan, distinguished scholar of Latin American art and Professor at NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts. Liliana Porter will be in attendance and will join the discussion.

Marisol came to New York at age 20, settling into a loft at 427 Washington Street. Born in Paris to Venezuelan parents, she became known as a Pop Artist using boldly colored, life-sized sculptures made from wood and found materials. Dubbed the “Latin Garbo,” she was both a celebrated artist and an enigmatic public figure who embraced silence.

Liliana Porter, an Argentine artist, came to New York in 1964. Working across printmaking, drawing, installation, photography, and video, she creates deceptively simple worlds populated by tiny figures confronting an enormous and often absurd universe, balancing humor with deeper questions about human experience.

Cecilia Vicuña arrived in New York in 1980 and immediately went to the water’s edge. Raised on the beaches of Concón, Chile, she has spent her career connecting nature, memory, language, and activism. Her Quipus, poetry, and performances bring together ancestral knowledge and contemporary environmental and social concerns.