Please note this artwork will be on view at the Clark Art Institute from May 11 - September 22, 2024. The work will be ready to ship at the close of the Clark exhibition.
This work takes it’s title from the novel Mamita Yunai, based upon Carlos Luis Fallas's real life experiences as a banana plantation worker in Costa Rica. In St. Hilaire’s painting there are nine bodies depicted, representing the nine demands made in a 1928 strike by the banana plantation workers to the United Fruit Company. Ultimately, the strike resulted in massacre, and nine dead bodies were laid out in the country’s capital by the occupying forces in response to the workers’ nine demands.
Through her art, St. Hilaire invites viewers to question their assumptions and engage in meaningful conversation about the world we inhabit. St. Hilaire's work is a testament to the transformative power of art and its potential ability to inspire change and empathy in society. Kathia St. Hilaire’s framing of certain historical events through visual representation becomes a form of un-silencing—via recognizable artistic forms—which reveals a new life form.