December 1, 2017 – February 17, 2018

DREAM OF SOLENTINAME

Marcos Agudelo Ernesto Cardenal Sandra Eleta Group Material Susan Meiselas Solentiname Painters

* * * 1524 defeat the indigenous population, naming the newly conquered land “Nicaragua” after the Indian chief Nicarao.

1821 Nicaragua becomes independent.

1855 North American adventurer William Walker invades Nicaragua, imposing slavery and declaring himself president. He was overthrown two years later.

1893 The Liberal party government led by Jose Santos Zelaya begins a process of modernization and national development. 1909 the middle class, such as President Zelaya refuses to grant APOCALYPSE AT SOLENTINAME newspaper editor Pedro Joaquin leaving any out, when Ernesto came to announce the launch how? Without my wanting it to, my hand pressed the button canal rights to the United States. Julio Cortázar Chamorro, who at this time was waiting. I told him what I’d done and he laughed, paint- and it was noon in the vast nitrate mine with a couple of The U.S. State Department stages an armed invasion, which ing-snatcher, image-smuggler. Yes, I said, I’m carting them all rusty corrugated-iron shacks, a bunch of people to the left supports a revolt by the fails to take power. Conservative party, which Always the same, the Ticos, a bit on the quiet side but full faces and smiles of farewell flled me with amazement and I of, and back home I’ll show them on my screen and they’ll staring at the bodies lying face upwards, arms fung open in return agrees to permanent of surprises, you get of in San Juan de Costa Rica and there told them so. I remember asking Oscar what would happen 1961 be far bigger and brighter than yours, tough shit to you. against a bare grey sky; looking hard you could just make out U.S. military presence. U.S. The Sandinista National banks take control of Nicaragua waiting for you were Carmen Naranjo and Samuel Rovinski if once after some family photo the blue scrap of paper sud- Liberation Front (FSLN) is in the distance the backs of a uniformed group moving of, and Sergio Ramirez (who’s from Nicaragua and not a Tico denly began to fll with Napoleon on horseback, and Don founded by Carlos Fonseca, I returned to San Jose, passed through Havana where I had a their jeep waiting at the top of a hill. communications. Tomas Borge, and Silvio but where’s the diference when you get down to it, it’s all the Jose’s roar of laughter: He’d been listening to everything as Mayorga, and combines several few things to see to, then back to Paris full of tired nostalgia, 1912–1926 same, what’s the diference between me being Argentinian, usual; the jeep, of we head for the lake. of the existing armed Claudine waiting for me silently at Orly, back to a life of I know I went on; the only possibility in the face of all the U.S. Marines remain in the movements. Somoza offers country to support the though to be polite I suppose I should say Tinan, and the Nicaragua as a base for the wrist-watches and merci monsieur bonjour madame, com- craziness was to go on pressing the button, seeing the corner Conservative government, which other Nicas or Ticos). It was blinding hot and to make mat- Night had already fallen by the time we reached Solen- CIA-backed invasion of Cuba’s mittees, cinemas, red wine and Claudine, Mozart quartets and of Corrientes and San Martin and the black car from which is faced with continuous armed Bay of Pigs. Liberal rebellions. The ters worse everything began right away, a press conference tiname, Teresa and William and an American poet were Claudine. In the heap of things the toady suitcase spewed out four men were aiming guns at the pavement where someone Bryan-Chamorro Treaty is signed, with all the usual, why don’t you live in your own country, there waiting for us, along with the other members of the 1963 over bed and carpet, magazines, newspaper cuttings, hand- in a white shirt and tennis shoes was running, two women giving the United States perpetual rights for the why was the flm of Blow-Up so diferent from your story, community; we went to bed almost immediately, but not FSLN are taken in the zone of Rio kerchiefs and books by Centro-American poets, the tubes of trying to shelter behind a parked lorry, somebody across the construction of an interoceanic do you think a writer ought to be politically committed? Te before I’d seen the painting in a corner, Ernesto was talking Bocay. The United States, with a grey plastic with the rolls of flm, so many things in the space street looking on in horrifed disbelief, lifting a hand to his canal through Nicaragua. way things are going I reckon the very last interview I give with his friends and handing out the food and presents he’d new strategy for social and of two months, the sequence in the Lenin school of Havana, chin as though to touch himself and feel he was still alive, economic development in Latin 1927 will be in the gates of Hell and I bet they’ll be the very same brought in a bag from San Jose, somebody was sleeping in a America known as the Alliance the streets of Trinidad, the outlines of the volcano Irazu and then all at once an almost completely darkened room, a The Liberal leaders surrender question, and if by some chance or other it’s chez St Peter hammock and I saw the paintings in a corner, began to look for Progress, pressures Somoza its tiny dish of steaming green water in which Samuel, myself bleary light from a barred window high up, a tabled with a and sign a U.S.-supervised peace to form a civilian government. treaty. Only General Augusto it’ll be no diferent, don’t you think that down below you at them. I can’t remember who it was explained they’d been Rene Schick is picked to be the and Sarita had imagine ducks already roasted foating around naked girl lying on her back, her hair reaching down to the Cesar Sandino refuses to write too obscurely for the masses? done by the local people, this one was by Vincente, this one’s next “elected” president. wreathed in sulphurous fumes. Claudine took the flms to be foor, the shadow of a back pushing a wire between her open comply. He assembles an army of peasants and launches a by Ramona, some signed, others not, yet all of them incredi- 1964 developed, one afternoon when I was in the Latin Quarter I legs, the faces of two men talking to each other, a blue tie guerrilla war against the U.S. Afterwards the Europe Hotel and that special show which bly beautiful, once again the primeval vision of the world, the Somoza, in response to remembered them and since I had the receipt in my pocket and a green pullover. I never understood whether I went on occupational forces, which is to continuing resistance, last seven years, during which crowns a journey with a long soliloquy of soap and silence. pure gaze of someone describing his surrounding in a song collaborates in the creation of went to pick them up: eight of them altogether, I immedi- pressing the button or not, I saw a clearing in the jungle, a the United States experimented Except that at 7 o’clock when it was time to take a walk of praise: dwarf cows in meadows of poppies, a sugar cabin the Central American Defense ately thought of the Solentiname paintings and when I got thatched cabin with some trees in the foreground, up against Council (CONDECA). techniques. around San Jose to see if it was a straightforward and neat that people were pouring out of like ants, a green-eyed horse home I opened all the boxes and glimpsed at the frst slide in the nearest trunk a skinny youth, his face turned to the left as I’d heard, a hand grasped my jacked and at the other end against a backdrop of swamps, a baptism in a church with 1965 each. I seemed to remember that before taking the paintings where a confused group of fve or six men close together 1933 National Guard troops are sent to Unable to crush Sandino’s army of it Ernesto Cardenal and then what a welcome, poet, how no faith in perspective that climbs and falls all over itself, a support U.S. Marines in the I’d been photographing Ernesto’s Mass, some kids playing pointed their rifes and pistols at him; he had a long face, and faced by growing domestic good that you’re here after our meeting in Rome, after so lake full of little boats like shoes, and in the background a invasion of the Dominican among palm trees just like the ones in the paintings, kids and with a lock of hair falling across the dark skin of his forehead, criticism of U.S. involvement in Republic. Nicaragua, the marines are many meetings on paper over the years. I’m always surprised, huge laughing fsh with turquoise lips. Ten Ernesto came trees and cows against a background of harsh blue sky and and was staring at them, one of his hands half-raised, the withdrawn. They are replaced by I’m always moved to think that someone like Ernesto should over to explain that selling the paintings helped them to get 1967 the lake only a shade greener, or perhaps it was the other way other probably in his trouser pocket, as if he were taking his a new army and police force, the come to see me and to seek me out, you’ll say I’m dripping by, in the morning he’d show me some things in wood and During Anastasio “Tachito” round, I couldn’t say exactly. I put the box with the kids and time to tell them something, almost disdainfully, and even National Guard, trained and Somoza Debayle’s presidential equipped by the U.S., to be with false modesty but to go right ahead and say it friend, stone the peasants has made, as well as his own sculptures; campaign, hundreds of people the Mass into the carrier, I knew that after them all the rest though the photo was blurred I felt and knew and saw that headed by U.S.-appointed the jackal may howl but the bus moves on, I’ll always be an we were all gradually dropping of to sleep, but I kept on demonstrating support for a of the roll showed the paintings. it was Roque Dalton, so then yes I did press the button, as Anastasio “Tacho” Somoza Conservative opposition Garcia. amateur, someone who admires certain people an incredible staring at the paintings stacked in the corner, pulling out the candidate, Fernando Aguero, are if that could save him from the infamy of such a death, and amount from below, and then one day discovers they feel the great canvas playing-cards with their cows and their fowers killed by the National Guard. It was getting dark and I was on my own, Claudine would be I managed to catch sight of a car exploding in the centre of 1934 Somoza is accused of electoral Sandino signs for peace with the same about him, things like that are beyond me, we’d better and a mother with her two children, one white and the other fraud. He becomes president and coming after work to listen to some music and to stay with a city which might have been Buenos Aires of Sao Paulo, I new president, Sacasa, and go on to the next line. red, nestling in her lap, beneath a sky so bursting with stars continues command of the me; I set up the screen and a rum with a lot of ice, the carrier carried on pressing and pressing between fashes of bloody returns to the northern Armed Forces. Aguero mountains to continue that the only remaining cloud had been shoved into a corner, negotiates with Somoza to gain ready and the long-distance control; there was no need to faces and bits of bodies and women and children racing organizing peasant cooperatives Te next line turned out to be that Ernesto had heard I pressed right up against the frame, on the point of creeping seats in the National Congress. draw the curtains, the compliant night was at hand to light down hill-sides in Bolivia or Guatemala, suddenly the screen begun during the war. On The FSLN sets up a rural base in February 21 Sandino is was coming to Costa Rica and had fown in from his island of the canvas out of sheer fright. Pancasan, where guerilla actions the lamps and the aroma of the rum; it was good to think fooded with mercury and with nothing and with Claudine assassinated on the orders of because the little bird who’d brought him the news had also intensify. it was all going to be ofered to me again, bit by bit, after too, coming in silently and throwing her shadow across the Tacho Somoza. told him that the Ricans were planning to take me to Solen- Te next day was Sunday and 11 o’clock Mass, the Solen- the Solentiname paintings I’d go through the boxes with the screen before bending over to kiss me on the top of my head 1972 1936 tiname, and the idea of coming to fetch me himself proved tiname Mass where the country labourers with Ernesto and An earthquake destroys the photos from Cuba, but just why the paintings frst, why that and ask me if they were nice, if I was happy with the photos, Somoza ousts Sacasa and takes irresistible, so two days later Sergio and Oscar and Ernesto any visiting friends join in commenting on a chapter from capital, Managua, killing 15,000 professional vice, art before life, and why not then said the if I wanted to show her them. the presidency. people and leaving 170,000 and myself crammed into an all too easily crammable Piper the Gospels, which that particular day was Jesus’ arrest in homeless. Incoming relief other one to him in their eternal unrelenting bitter fraternal 1947 Aztec biplane, a name like that will forever be a mystery the garden, a theme the people of Solentiname treated as if supplies are found on the black dialogue, why not look at the Solentiname paintings frst, I took the slide carrier out and set it back at the beginning, Following U.S. pressure to hold market. International aid is used elections, a new president, to me, but which few anyway amidst hiccups and ominous it dealt with them personally, with the threat hanging over to expand the business empire of they’re just as much life, it’s all one and the same. we never know how or why we do certain things when we’ve Leonard Arguello, is elected. gurglings while the blond pilot kept the thing going with a them at night or in broad daylight, their life of constant the Somoza family, which takes crossed a boundary we were equally unaware of. With- advantage of reconstruction he is overthrown by Somoza, selection of calypsos and seemed utterly unconcerned at my uncertainty not just on the islands or on the mainland and needs by making land and First the photos of the Mass—which weren’t much good out looking at her, because she would not have understood who then installs his uncle as the idea that the Aztec was in fact taking us straight to his sacri- in all of Nicaragua but also in nearly the whole of Latin construction deals and because I’d got the exposure wrong, the kids on the other or simply been terrifed by whatever my face was in that next president. eliminating the private sector fcial pyramid. Which, as you can see, wasn’t the case, we got America, life surrounded by fear and death, life in Guate- from investment opportunities. hand were playing in perfect light with gleaming white teeth. moment, without explaining anything to her because from 1951 out in Los Chiles and from there an equally rickety jeep took mala and life in El Salvador, life in Argentina and Bolivia, I pressed the button reluctantly, I’d have liked to spend a long my throat down to my toe-nails was just one huge knot, I got A pact is signed between 1974 Somoza’s Liberal party and the us to the home of the poet Jose Coronel Urteche (whose life in Chile and Santo Domingo, life in Paraguay, life in Somoza becomes president for moment gazing at each photo sticky with memories, that up and gently settled her in the armchair and I suppose I said Conservatives, allowing work more people could do with reading), where we rested Brazil and in Colombia. another seven-year term, in an tiny fragile world of Solentiname hemmed round by water something about going to get a drink and for her to look, for Somoza’s election as president. election boycotted by the major and talked of a variety of mutual poet friends, of Roque opposition parties. The FSLN and ofcialdom, just like the youth I stared at blankly was her to see for herself while I went to get a drink. In the bath- 1956 Dalton and Gertrude Stein and Carlos Martinez Rivas until After that the time came to think of going back, and it was stages an assault on a hemmed in, I’d pressed the button and there he was, perfectly room I think I threw up, or just cried and then threw up or After over twenty years of rule, Luis Coronel arrived and we set of for Nicaragua frst in his then that the paintings crossed my mind again, I went to the Somocista Christmas party, clear in the middle distance with a wide, smooth face that did nothing but stayed sitting on the edge of the bath letting Anastasio Somoza Garcia is taking twelve Nicaraguan executed by a poet, Rigoberto jeep and then in his launch at nerve-racking speed. Before- community room and started to look at them in the delirious diplomats and government seemed flled with incredulous surprise as his body crumpled time go by until I was capable of going to the kitchen to fx Lopez Perez. His son, Luis, hand though, we look some souvenir snapshots with one of brilliance of mid-day, their colours even brighter, the acrylics members hostage. Somoza forward, a neat hole in his forehead, the ofcer’s revolver still Claudine her favourite drink, fll it with ice and then take replaces his father as president, accedes to FSLN demands for $1 and his second son, Anastasio, those cameras that on the spot produce a piece of sky-blue or oils vying with each other from horses and sunfowers and million ransom, release of tracing the path of the bullet, the others standing by with in the silence, realise that Claudine wasn’t screaming, hadn’t or “Tachito”, takes over as paper which gradually and miraculously and polaroid begins picnics in meadows and symmetrical palm trees. I remem- political prisoners, and the press their machine-guns, a jumbled background of houses and come running with questions, only silence and occasionally Commander-in-Chief of the and radio publication of an FSLN Armed Forces. A period of brutal slowly to fll with images, frst of all disturbing ghost-shapes bered I had a colour flm in my camera and went out on to statement. UDEL (Democratic trees. sugary bolero drifting through the wall from the next-door repression begins. and then little by little a nose, a curly head of hair, Ernesto’s the veranda with as many paintings as I could carry; Sergio Union for Liberation), a broad fat. I don’t know how long it took me to get from the kitchen alliance of political parties, 1958–1960 smile and Nazarene head-band, Dona Maria and Don Jose came and helped me to hold them up in a good light, and I businessmen, and unions, is Whatever we like to think, these things always seem to arrive to the lounge, to see the back of the screen just as she reached A number of armed movements standing out clearly against the veranda. Tere was nothing went through photographing them one by one, positioning organized and headed by Pedro so far ahead of us and to leave us so far behind; I said to the end of the instant mercury, then fell back into semi-dark- develop, with differing political Joaquin Chamorro. origins and no single direction. at all odd about this for them because of course they were myself so that each canvas completely flled the viewer. As myself dumbfoundedly that the shop must have made a mis- ness, Claudine switching of the projector and fopping back Some are led by the veterans of used to the camera, but I wasn’t, for me to see emerging from luck would have it, there were exactly the same number of take, that they’d given me someone else’s photos, but then into the armchair to take her glass and smile slowly at me, Sandino, some by members of nothing, from that little square of blue nothingness those paintings as I had shots left, so I could take them all without what about the Mass, the children playing in the felds, then happy, cat-like, contented. 1975 8/78 A country-wide ‘Tey came out really well, that one with the laughing fsh Led by commander Eden is where poetry and sowing and harvesting the land do not Now the repression which had for so long been present in counterinsurgency campaign is and the mother with the two children and the cows in the Pastora, the Sandinistas storm divide men into poets and sowers but represent activities of the North has also reached Solentiname. A great number of launched against the FSLN. the National Palace and take feld; wait, and there was that other one with the baptism in sixty-seven Congressmen and the same unifed life. the peasants have been taken to prison. Many have had to 1976 the church, tell me who painted them, the signatures aren’t fee. Still others have gone into exile, with only their memo- Carlos Fonseca, founder of the clear.’ hostage, forcing Somoza to All that is over now. ries of their beautiful islands and their homes in ruins. Tey FSLN, is killed in combat with the National Guard, and Tomas prisoners, publish the FSLN might still have been there, leading peaceful lives devoted Borge, co-founder, is jailed and Sitting on the foor without looking at her, I reach for my program, and pay ransom. The Twelve years ago, when the Apostolic Nuncio of that time to everyday activities. But they thought of their neighbours, FAO calls for a second general Nicaraguan Catholic Church drink and gulped it down. I wasn’t going to say anything approved my project for the foundation in the name of the and of the entire country. Tey are an example to all of us. Bishops and U.S. missionaries to her, what was there to say now, but I remember vaguely The entire country is paralyzed. Holy See, he told me that he would have preferred the com- denounce National Guard A popular uprising begins in the repression against peasants, thinking of asking her something really crazy, asking if at town of Matagalpa. munity to be established in a less remote and inaccessible Solentiname had the beauty of a paradise, but it is obvious documenting the some point she hadn’t seen a photo of Napoleon on horse- place than Solentiname, because we would never get any visi- that no paradise is yet possible in Nicaragua. “disappearance” of several 9/78 village communities in the north. back. I didn’t of course. The Sandinistas simultaneously tors there. Yet the truth is we were always full of visitors from attack the towns of Leon, Nicaragua, and even more from aboard, from a host of dif- I am not thinking about rebuilding our small community of 1977 from Nicaragua, Tan Violentamente Dulce (Nicaragua, So Violently Sweet), Masaya, Chinandega, and Esteli, Somoza lifts martial law and Julio Cortázar, Muchnik Editores (Buenos Aires), 1984. and the neighborhoods of Las ferent countries throughout the world. Many of them came Solentiname. I am thinking of the far more important task censorship following U.S. threats Americas and Open 3 in to Nicaragua just to see Solentiname; sometimes they came we will all face, that of rebuilding the whole country. to cut off military assistance if Translated by Nick Caistor. Managua. They are supported by straight to us, via Los Chiles and San Carlos, without even human rights are not respected. a popular insurrection. A state of from Love in Paradise—Te Gospel of Solentiname, Ernesto Cardenal, The Sandinistas simultaneously * * * siege is decreed throughout the bothering to visit Managua. A lot of correspondence from Search Press (London), 1982. First published in Spanish as Lo que attack three National Guard country. After several days of all over the world reached us, as well as books, pamphlets, fue Solentiname (Carta al pueblo de Nicaragua) revista Nueva Sociedad garrisons: San Carlos in the no. 35, Marzo–Abril, 1978, pp. 165–167. south, Ocotal in the north, and and magazines—although lately hardly any publications got Masaya near the capital. “Los the National Guard after through, due to the intervention of Felipe Rodriguez Ser- Doce” (The Twelve), a newly extensive aerial bombardment. * * * formed group of prominent According to the Red Cross, the rano, the head of Customs. Numerous letters from other businessmen, churchmen, and countries will still continue to arrive at the Nicaraguan post dead. Approximately 100,000 opposition to Somoza, including people seek refuge in the ofce for our community, and it will be a wilderness just as participation of the FSLN. The neighboring countries of it was when we frst arrived. Where there had been a Mass Archbishop attempts to organize Honduras and Costa Rica. a “national dialogue” with for the country people, paintings, sculptures, books, records, Somoza. SOLENTINAME—THE END 10/78 classes, beautiful smiling children, poems, songs, now only a Ernesto Cardenal The Organization of American 1/78 States (OAS) sends in an wild natural beauty remains. Pedro Joaquin Chamorro is international team, headed by assassinated. 100,000 people I arrived at Solentiname twelve years ago with two com- from helicopters. Tey also necessarily identifed themselves William Bowdler of the United My life there was a happy one, in the near-Paradise which States, to mediate between in a funeral procession through panions to set up a small community for meditation. Med- with all those who, out of compassion for their neighbours, was Solentiname, but I was always ready to sacrifce it all. Managua. A national general itation means union with god. We soon realised that this were ofering up their lives. And this feeling of solidarity, in conditions for a post-Somoza And now we have sacrifced it. strike is organized by the NIcaragua. businessmen and UDEL, union with God led us frst of all to union with the country order to be real, implies that one also has to put one’s security demanding the resignation of people, all of them poor and uncared for, who lived scattered and one’s life at risk. In Solentiname, we knew we could not 11/78 One day it happened that a group of young people, men and Somoza. It lasts ten days. The Somoza refuses to leave, and the business sector organizes a new along the banks of the archipelago. Meditation further led enjoy peace and tranquillity for ever, if we really intended to mediators attempt to involve women from Solentiname (some of them from my commu- opposition party, the MDN us to a political commitment; meditation led us to revolu- put God’s word into practice. We knew the hour of sacrifce Somoza’s Liberal party in the nity), out of their deeply held convictions, and after having (Nicaraguan Democratic talks. “Los Doce” reject the Movement). tion; that was how it had to be, otherwise everything would would arrive, and it did. mediation, stating they cannot weighed the matter a long time, decided to take up arms. have been false. My former novice master Tomas Merton, endorse “Somocismo without Why did they do it? Tey did it for one reason alone: out of 2/78 Somoza”, a plan that would leave The FSLN attacks the cities of who inspired and was the spiritual director of our founda- Everything is over in our community now. We had created structures like the National their love for the kingdom of God. Out of their ardent desire Granada and Rivas. National tion, had said to me that in Latin America no contemplative there a school of primitive painting which became famous in Guard or the Liberal party intact. to establish a just society, a true and concrete kingdom of Guard tear gas a mass honoring A plebiscite is suggested by the Pedro Joaquin Chamorro in could remain apart from political struggles. At frst, we pre- many parts of the world. Te paintings, wooden sculptures, U.S. to determine if Somoza God here on this earth. Monimbo. The Indian community ferred a revolution using non-violent means (although we and other handicrafts of Solentiname were sold not only in should continue or leave the builds barricades and trenches were not unaware of the Church’s traditional principle of a Managua, but also in New York, Washington, Paris, Vene- country. Somoza rejects the When the time came, these young men and women fought overnight, and rises up in the proposal. just war, and the right of self-defence on an individual and zuela, Puerto Rico, Switzerland and Germany. A few days with great bravery, but also as christians. In that early morn- Somoza. collective level). But afterwards we came to realise that in before the destruction of our community, we had sent some The Inter-American Commission ing at San Carlos they repeatedly tried to reason with the for Human Rights of the OAS 3/78 present-day Nicaragua non-violent struggle is impracticable. large wooden sculptures to a church in Canada. Recently the visits Nicaragua and publishes a troops over a loudspeaker, wanting if possible to avoid hav- Demonstrations are held by And Gandhi himself would have agreed with us. In fact, any people of Solentiname (adults and children) had begun to report that condemns the ing to shoot. But the troops replied to their arguments with neighborhood committees for Somoza regime for having better transportation and living true revolutionary prefers non-violence to violence; but one write very fne poetry, and their poems have appeared both committed “genocide”. machine-guns, and so reluctantly they were forced to use Cover of El Evangelio en Solentiname by Ernesto Cardenal conditions. does not always have the freedom to choose. in Nicaragua and abroad. Several flms were made about their weapons. Alejandro Guevara, one of those from our Departamento Ecuménico de Investigaciones (Costa Rica), 1979 Civil Defense Committees, 5/78 Solentiname, including one by the BBC. A great deal has sponsored by the MPU, organize community, went into the barracks when only dead and A hunger strike for Tomas Borge It was the Gospel which had the most radical political been written about us, in a variety of languages, in books, in the city neighborhoods, wounded soldiers were left inside. He was going to set fre and Marcio Jean is supported by preparing people for wartime the women’s movement efect on us. During Mass every Sunday (talking together magazines, and pamphlets, and records have been made. In defense. They stockpile food and to the building to prove beyond doubt that their attack had AMPRONAC, demanding with the country people) we used to comment on the Gos- that remote lakeside corner, we had a large library of books, been successful, but pity for the wounded soldiers stopped improved prison conditions and aid. an end to their solitary pel; and they, with admirable simplicity and theological collected during a whole lifetime. We had a collection of him. Because it was not burnt down, government sources insight, began to understand the essence of its message: the pre-Columbian art, all found in Solentiname, that we had 2/79 afterwards claimed that it had never been taken. Opposition Front (FAO) is A National Patriotic Front (FPN) formed, uniting “Los Doce”, announce of the kingdom of God. Which is: the establish- built up over the years. We had a big guest house, with many is formed, combining the MPU UDEL, and other opposition ment of earth of a just society, without exploited or exploit- beds for visitors. We had pottery and enamelling kilns, and with members of FAO who reject I am proud that these young christians fought without hate, parties. ers, with all possessions shared, like the society in which the a spacious workshop for all kinds of handicraft, where we mediation efforts. above all without hate for the troops, poor, exploited country 6/78 frst Christians lived. Tese commentaries have been widely could work in wood, leather, copper, bronze, and silver. We 3/79 people like themselves. It is dreadful that there should be Secondary schools and difused throughout the world thanks to the book Te Gospel were also developing a communal work-scheme for the The FSLN announced internal dead and wounded. We would prefer there to be no fghting universities are boycotted in a national strike by 30,000 in Solentiname, translated into various languages. young with the help of a co-operative. We were about to in Nicaragua, but that decision is not in the hands of the students and teachers. start a dairy and a factory producing European-type cheeses, 4/79-5/79 oppressed people—they are simply defending themselves. 7/78 But the Gospel taught us above all else that the word of God run by the co-operative and assisted by a German institution. offensive”, taking Estelo and Some day there will be no more war in Nicaragua, no more Members of “Los Doce” returning was not merely to be heard but also to be put into practice. In Germany they said: Solentiname is everywhere, it’s the Jinotega in the north, initiating poor troops killing their fellow countrymen; instead, there to Nicaragua from self-exile are guerrilla activities in the Atlantic met by an estimated crowd of And the people of Solentiname who analysed this Gospel beginning of a more humane world, it’s a Christian way of coast area, and waging frontal will be plenty of schools, places for children to play, hospitals 100,000 supporters. The United could not help identifying with their fellow-men who, in life, not just waiting for a better world, but caring for the attacks along the Costa Rican and clinics for everyone, food and adequate housing for the People’s Movement (MPU) is border with the south, including formed as a coalition of unions other parts of the country, were sufering persecution and peace of one’s neighbour, for peace within nature, for peace the towns of Rivas and El whole population, art and leisure for all, and, beyond every- and grassroots organizations terror: were being put in prison, tortured, murdered, their in the community. And in Venezuela it was said that Solen- Naranjo. thing else, love among everybody. linked to the FSLN. wives raped, their homes burnt, some even being thrown tiname is something so much of God and this earth that it 6/4/79 Gallery 2 A general strike brings the INTRODUCTION: In 1965, a spiritual, political, and artistic movement emerged on an archipelago in the south of Nicara- southern front and in Matagalpa, country to a standstill. The FSLN gua: Solentiname. Ernesto Cardenal, a leading poet and priest, established this community in its remote location on Lake Nic- the National Guard surrender in continues guerrilla actions in the aragua. For over 50 years, Cardenal has been committed to social change, starting with Solentiname, which played a signifcant Somoto, Boaco, and Granada. Susan Meiselas, Nicaragua: June 1978–July 1979 north and conventional warfare Fleeing deserters hijack Red in the south. The population of role in the Sandinista revolution over the U.S. backed Somoza regime. Te exhibition ‘Dream of Solentiname’ will look at this Cross and Nicaraguan air force the major cities - Leon, key moment in the relationship between aesthetics and politics in Central America as well as its impact on artists working in Susan Meiselas is perhaps best known for her work docu- the Sandinista revolution to revisit the people and places Matagalpa, Chinandega, Esteli, Masaya, and the eastern part of New York City during the 1980s as the Contra War against the new Sandinista government was underway. menting the insurrection in Nicaragua during the 1970s. she had previously captured, resulting in her flm project, the capital, Managua – rise up Correspondence between Ernesto Cardenal and fellow priest Tomas Merton document the founding ideas for Solen- 7/19/79 Meiselas traveled to Nicaragua not for the sole purpose of Pictures From a Revolution, which allowed her to recon- against Somoza. Fighting also The Sandinista columns begins in smaller surrounding tiname as a social and artistic utopia built around principles of art, liberation theology, and social justice. Painting became a way converge on the capital, ending a documenting the war, but to capture the lived experience nect with the subjects of her photographs. Following Pic- towns. of political expression, economic support, and lifestyle for the inhabitants of the archipelago. Over the years the community war that, according to the United of the Nicaraguan people residing in a war-torn country. tures From a Revolution, Meiselas returned to Nicaragua Nations Economic Committee of 6/13/79 hosted a number of writers and artists including artist Juan Downey, curator James Harithas, photographer Sandra Eleta, and Latin America (CEPAL) report, Tis gallery exhibits selections of her photographs which in July 2004, for the 25th anniversary of the overthrow of San Isidro is liberated. novelist Julio Cortázar—whose visit culminated in his work Apocalipsis de Solentiname. left: 40,000 dead (1.5 percent of are also featured in her book Nicaragua, June 1978 – July Somoza. She arrived with nineteen mural-sized images of the population); 40,000 children 6/15/79 Solentiname’s community was established from 1965 until 1977 when it was destroyed by the Somoza regime. Te orphaned; 200,000 families 1979. Since her time documenting leftist political uprisings her photographs from 1978-1979, collaborating with local The frontier post of Penas Sandinista Front for National Liberation (FSLN) overthrew the Somoza dictatorship two years later in the people’s revolu- homeless; 750,000 persons in Central and Latin America, Meiselas has expanded her communities to create sites for collective memory. Te Blancas is taken. dependent on food assistance; tion. When the new government was formed, Cardenal became the minister of culture and the Solentiname experience was 70 percent of the main export, practice, adopting the role of curator, flmmaker, historian, project, Reframing History, placed murals on public walls 6/16/79 seen as a model for the cultural program of the revolution. cotton, not planted; 33 percent of and archivist. Meiselas’ photography was heavily featured and in open spaces in the towns, at the sites where the pho- all industrial property destroyed; in mainstream media coverage of the insurrection—often- tographs were originally made. Meiselas has an interest in government of National $1.5 billion worth of physical Reconstruction is named by the damage; and an external debt of times misrepresenting the situation in order to gain sup- re-contextualizing her work; she often uses other photo- Sandinistas, including members Gallery 1 $1.6 billion. port for America’s interventionist strategies. Te revolu- graphs and materials in conjunction with her own, cre- of the FSLN, MPU, the business community, and the moderate 7/20/79 tion’s treatment in the news galvanized artists in NYC, ating installations that continually re-examine historical opposition. Ecuador, México, Group Material, 1982–1984 The provisional government and resulting in the 1984 New Museum exhibition Te Nica- and personal narratives. Tis practice is exemplifed in her Peru, Brazil, and Panama break the National Direction of the diplomatic relations with ragua Media Project —in which Meiselas took part—chal- series of exhibitions titled Mediations. First taking place in Timeline: A Chronicles of U.S. Intervention in Central and Latin America FSLN, along with Sandinista Somoza’s government. columns, are welcomed at lenging the misunderstandings perpetuated by Reagan-era 1982, Meiselas’ mediations confront her photography and Managua’s central plaza by a 6/21/79 crowd of 200,000. propaganda. Meiselas returned to Nicaragua ten years after how it is used in the mainstream media. The U.S. calls for an emergency Te frst gallery showcases selections from Group Materi- between the U.S. and Central and Latin America. It spanned session of the OAS. Its proposal al’s Timeline: A Chronicle of U.S. Intervention in Central and from 1823—when the Monroe Doctrine was signed, oppos- * * * to send an inter-American Time line of events taken from Gallery 3 “peacekeeping force” to Latin America, frst presented in 1984 at P.S 1, in addition to ing European colonization of the Americas, however, reinter- Nicaragua: June 1978–July 1979 Nicaragua is defeated, an by Susan Miesalas, First unprecedented decision. A their 1982 exhibition ¡Luchar! An Exhibition for the People of pretations of the Doctrine allowed the U.S. to legitimize their 1 Aperture Edition, 2008. resolution is drawn up calling for Central America —organized in collaboration with the com- own expansionist practices—to contemporary interventions Ernesto Cardenal Sculptures, 1956–present Somoza’s immediate resignation. ABC-TV correspondent Bill munity center Taller Latinoamericano and other New York in 1984; the year of the P.S. 1 exhibition. Although the title of Stewart is shot dead by a City-based cultural organizations. ¡Luchar! was the frst of Timeline evokes a linear narrative, Group Material subverts Cardenal was sculpting long before the founding of Solen- Selected publications by Ernesto Cardenal in English: National Guardsman in Managua. many Group Material initiatives that dealt with the situation this expectation, mixing images and objects from diferent tiname. Between 1956 and 1957 he participated in two Film footage is shown worldwide. in Central and Latin America. On view from January 22 to time periods to create alternate narratives. Te 1984 exhibi- exhibitions during his time the United States of America. Te Psalms of Struggle and Liberation, Herder and Herder, 6/24/79 March 18, 1984, as part of the activist campaign Artists Call tion consisted of three competing chronologies, underscor- Organized by the gallery of the Pan-American Union in 1971. Chichigalpa becomes the second liberated town. Against U.S. Intervention in Central America, Timeline flled ing the exploration of narrative authority. Group Material’s Washington D.C., the exhibition centered around artists Apocalypse and Other Poems, (Editor and author of four walls at P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center in Queens, timeline on the wall in red vied for attention with one pro- from Nicaragua and Latin America. Exhibiting along- introduction, Robert Pring-Mill), New Directions (New 6/25/79 The FSLN withdraws from New York, with a disparate group of objects that ranged from vided by the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El side Cardenal were Fernando Botero, Alejandro Obregón, York, NY), 1974. Managua after nineteen days of cultural artifacts and documentary materials, to contempo- Salvador (CISPES), as well as New York artist Bill Allen’s Rodolfo Abularach, Manabú Mabe, José Luis Cuevas, and In Cuba, New Directions (New York, NY), 1974. resistance, reestablishing its 3 forces in Masaya. In the rary and historical works of art. Among these items was pro- chronology consisting of image-text based posters. Group fellow Nicaraguan Armando Morales. It was after this series Zero Hour and Other Documentary Poems, (Editor, Donald “liberated areas” of Nicaragua, paganda from the insurrections in Nicaragua and El Salvador, Material’s practice hinges on the critical orientation of their of exhibitions that he entered the Abbey of Gethsemani in Walsh), New Directions (New York, NY), 1980. the MPU organizes people to prepare for a long war by sowing including a FSLN (Sandinista National Liberation Front) installations, bringing seemingly disparate narrative parts Kentucky to study with Tomas Merton. Merton played an With Walker in Nicaragua and Other Early Poems: 1949- crops and starting up production banner and a FMLN (Farabundo Martí National Liberation together, and allowing for the emergence of new insights and infuential role in Cardenal’s life, including the cultivation 1954, Wesleyan (Middleton, CT), 1984. for basic needs. Local assemblies are formed by Front) scarf, and also commodities—bananas, cofee grinds, connections. of the founding principles of Solentiname. After leaving the Golden UFOs: Te Indian Poems: Los ovnis de oro: Poemas popular vote in many towns. tobacco leaves, cotton, and copper—that directly referenced Monastery in 1959, Cardenal continued to exchange letters indios, Indiana University Press (Bloomington, IN), 1992. longstanding US imperialist interests in the region, as well 1. Te timeline in this room begins with the ¡Luchar! invitation card—ref- with Merton. Te two priest-poets were ideologically aligned Te Doubtful Strait/El estrecho dudoso, Indiana University 7/1/79 erencing the original exhibition and the impact of the photos they dis- Somoza fails in an attempt to as newspaper clippings and press photographs. Interspersed played. In an efort to humanize the atrocities taking place abroad, ¡Luchar! with liberation theology and shared a deep commitment to Press (Bloomington, IN), 1995. enlist military support of alongside these cultural artifacts were works of art made by opened in 1982 with two images by the Ecuadorian photographer Bolivar social justice. Flights of Victory/Vuelos de victoria, Curbstone Books CONDECA, the Central American Arellano. Te photographs, which later reappeared in the Timeline exhibi- Defense Force. some forty contemporary artists, most from the US, includ- tion, depict the bodies of four Dutch journalists who had been killed in Sculpting since 1956 and still sculpting today, Carde- (Willmantic, CT), 1995. ing Conrad Atkinson (For Chile, 1973) and Barbara Kruger El Salvador. Te frst image shows the bodies stacked one on top of the nal’s sculptures are not only inspired by modernist sculpture Cosmic Canticle, Curbstone Books (Willmantic, CT), 2002. 7/2/79 other; the second photograph is a close-up of two of the journalists hands clasped together. Art Historian Erina Duganne writes that while the frst The Voice of America announces (You make history when you do business, 1982), among others, (Brancusi, for example.) but primordially the source of inspi- Love: A Glimpse of Eternity, (Translator, Dinah Livingston), photo may elicit a distanced scrutiny, the second incites a more emotional twenty-two cities held by the as well as by such historical fgures such as Tina Modotti response, fueling mobilization eforts. (Erina Duganne, “Building Global ration comes from the handcrafted wooden animals carved Paraclete Press (MA), 2006. Sandinistas. (Hands Resting on Tool, 1926) and Francisco Goya (Tey Car- Solidarity Trough ¡Luchar!,” In Te Darkroom, http://inthedarkroom.org/ by artisans in Solentiname and elsewhere in Nicaragua. By Pluriverse: New and Selected Poems, (Editor, Jonathan building-global-solidarity-through-luchar) 7/9/79 ried Her Of, 1797-99, plate 8 of Los Caprichos). In addition, in carving animals and plants, Cardinal seeks to recreate para- Cohen), New Directions, 2009. Leon, the second largest city, is the center of the room, Group Material installed a large red 2. Taking place primarily between the months of January to March 1984, dise and attain a state of peace close to that created by god; Te Gospel in Solentiname, Orbis Books (Maryknoll, NY), declared liberated. Artists Call Against U.S. Intervention in Central America was a nation- sculptural navigational buoy that US artists Barbara Wester- wide campaign developed by an international group of artists, writers, actors, where man and nature co-existed in equilibrium, and form 2010. 7/16/79 mann, William Allen, and Ann Messner had recently made flm makers, editors, curators, journalists, gallerists, musicians, and activists, part of Cardenal’s wider quest and commitment to achiev- Te Origin of Species and Other Poems, (Translator, John Esteli is declared liberated. The etc. Consisting of exhibitions as well as performances, poetry readings, flm Sandinistas, having taken a for use in a march against US intervention in Central Amer- screenings, concerts, and other cultural and educational events that took ing a utopia—something he hoped to attain in Solentiname. Lyons), Texas Tech University Press (Lubbock, TX), series of towns - Jinotepe, ica that had taken place in Washington, DC.2 place in over twenty-seven cities across the United States and Canada, Art- In addition to his sculpture, Cardenal’s poetry and writings 2011. Juigalpa, Sebaco, Rivas - control ists Call was intended not only to oppose the US government’s interven- major road access and begin What started in 1979 as a group of young artists and writ- tionist policies in Central America but also to raise money for and awareness have been published widely in both Spanish and English. He their march to Managua. ers eager to discuss and present socially engaged art, Group about Central America as well as to build international solidarity amongst has received the Christopher Book Award for Te Psalms of artists and other cultural workers. Tere was an organizing committee and 7/17/79 Material went on to produce over ffty exhibitions and pub- sub committees that focused on aspects of the work from the exhibitions, Struggle and Liberation (1971), a Premio de la Paz grant, the lic events. Group Material’s Timeline was part of the wider performances, screenings and readings to the march, the auction, press Libreros de la República Federal de Alemania, and, in 2005, Miami with his family and chiefs relations, etc. Te committee and subcommittee included Daniel Flores y initiative, Artists Call Against U.S. Intervention in Central Ascencio, Fatima Bercht, Jon Hendricks, Lucy Lippard, Leon Golub, Nancy was honored with the Order of Rubén Darío, for service to his father and brother. The America2, which resulted in a network of artists and cultural Spero, Coosje van Bruggen, Tom Lawson, Tiago de Mello, Claes Olden- Nicaragua and humanity. provisional government arrives burg, Doug Ashford, Kimiko Hahn, Julie Ault, and Josely Carvalho. workers coming together to organize a program of exhibi- conference. The interim tions and benefts in order to raise awareness and funds for 3. Claire Grace, “Counter-Time: Group Material’s Chronicle of US Inter- president, Francisco Urcuyo, vention in Central and South America,” Afterall, no. 26 (2011), https:// orders National Guard troops to the popular revolutions. Te original Timeline featured a mix www.afterall.org/journal/issue.26/counter-me-group-material-s-chronicle- of historical and contemporary artworks, artifacts, and doc- of-us-intervention-in-central-and-south-america hand over power. While some umentary materials to illustrate the tumultuous relationship Gallery 4 Solentiname Paintings, 1965–present

Painters: Eduardo Arana, Rodolfo Arellano, Julia Chavarría, Mariíta Guevara, Miriam Guevara, Esperanza Guevara, Oscar Mairena, Pablo Mayorga, Elena Pineda, Olivia Silva Gallery 4 Solentiname Paintings Before the arrival of Ernesto Cardenal, the community of guerilla fghters for the Sandinistas; certain paintings por- 1965–present Solentiname lived in almost complete isolation. Te islands traying the graves of those lost in battle. Te triumph of were made up of peasants and farmers with a lack of ade- the Sandinistas in 1979 did not last however; Solentiname Gallery 5 quate food, clothing, education, and medical care. Carde- paintings from the 80s portray the continuation of violence Marcos Agudelo nal’s teachings and interpretation of the Bible empowered perpetrated by the Reagan administration in the contra 2010/2017 the community. Tis was the frst time the people of war. Recognized as Nicaragua’s national style of paintings, Sandra Eleta Solentiname had the opportunity to learn about human these works incorporate elements of community, war, and 1974 rights and their exploitation as perpetuated by the Somoza religion; all with the tropical landscape of the islands as a regime. Cardenal also encouraged creativity—bringing backdrop, evoking the blissful paradise for which the com- young painter Roger Perez de la Rocha to the islands to munity longed. Gallery 3 teach technical aspects of painting to the community. Te Te work of the Solentiname painters was shown in the Ernesto Cardenal Sculptures painters of Solentiname responded critically to the experi- U.S. in the 1970s; when museum director and curator James 1956–present ence of the revolution. Many of the paintings are allegor- Harithas traveled to Solentiname, along with video artist ical—combining imagery from tales in the bible with the Juan Downey, upon hearing news that Sandinista rebels political reality of Nicaragua, e.g. members of the Somoza were making art. Harithas purchased a number of paintings army standing in for the Romans in a depiction of the kiss on his trip and exhibited them at the Everson Museum in of Judas by Esperanza Guevara. Several members of the 1973. An exhibition of Solentiname painters also took place Guevara family took to painting, including Esperanza’s at the Center for Inter-American Relations (now known as sisters Miriam, Gloria, Mariita, and their mother Olivia. the Americas Society) in December 1974. Many of the young men and women of Solentiname were

Gallery 5 Marcos Agudelo, 2010–2017 / Sandra Eleta, 1974 WALL 3

When Ernesto Cardenal arrived to the islands of Solen- reconstructed. For this, trees were extracted from the humid tiname in 1966, one of his frst initiatives was to restore tropical forest—characteristic of the zone—such as: Laurel, Gallery 2 its neglected chapel, which became the center of commu- Genizaro and Nispero; species of high structural resistance 4 WALL nity life in the archipelego. Located on the largest island in to humidity. Extracting these trees allowed Agudelo and Susan Meiselas WALL 2 Nicaragua, the archipelago, Mancarrón, Te Church of Solentiname team to carve new columns and beams. Agudelo’s installation June 1978–July 1979 was revived by Cardenal with the help of poet and artist Reconstrucción de Iglesia de Solentiname was infuenced by the William Agudelo among others. By 2011, the church had design of the church and the restoration process. For those sufered further deterioration exacerbated by the humidi- living on the islands, the church has perpetually been the ty’s efect on the adobe and wood structure. As a symbol of prime location for public gatherings—always an important Nicaragua’s political history, as well as the progressive com- reference point for their shared history. Agudelo’s architec- WALL 1 WALL 5 munity his family was a part of, artist and architect Mar- tural installation is accompanied by video, painting, activist cos Agudelo decided to organize another renovation of the posters from the time of the revolution, and the photography church. Agudelo looked to the photographs of Sandra Eleta, of Sandra Eleta, capturing intimate moments of daily life. who visited to the islands during the 1970s, to accurately All of these elements come together, acting as an homage to restore the building’s facade.Te reconstruction of the com- the landscape and community of Solentiname, as a reminder munity church of Solentiname was carried out using tradi- that the utopia of arts and politics that existed on the island WALL 2 tional carpentry techniques; the entire wooden structure was can once again be attained. WALL 3 WALL

Gallery 1 Group Material WALL 1 1982–1984

Lobby Project Space

Entrance List of works Gallery 1: WALL 2 Gallery 2: 7a. Fleeing the bombing to seek 5d. German Geo Gallery 3: Gallery 4: Gallery 5: Julio Cortazar. Nicaragua Tan Group Material, Susan Meiselas, refuge outside of Esteli 1978. Tearsheet. 10.5" × 16.5" Ernesto Cardenal Solentiname Marcos Agudelo, Violentamente Dulce. 21. Timeline: A Chronicle of US 1978. Chromogenic print. Courtesy of: Susan Meiselas, 1984. Book. 5" × 7.75“ 1982–1984 Intervention in Central and Latin Nicaragua: 24.5" × 16.5" Magnum Photography Sculptures Paintings 2010–2017 America 1978–1979 Courtesy of: Susan Meiselas 1956-present 1965–present Cover pages of Boletin de Nuestra WALL 1 1984. Slideshow. (6 images) 6a. Geo cover 1. Marcos Agudelo. Señora de Solentiname (Bulletin (left to right) Reconstrucción de Iglesia de WALL 1 7b. Sandinista barricade during 1979. 10.5" × 8.25" PLINTH (left to right) of Our Lady of Solentiname) Solentiname ¡Luchar! (left to right) Courtesy of: Susan Meiselas, (counter-clockwise) from left to right: Above red line: 2017. Wood, screen mesh, 1982. Slideshow. (5 images) 1979. Chromogenic print. Magnum Photography 1. Esperanza Guevara. Compas Year 2, no. 4, June 1967; slideshow, vinyl print. Dimensions Courtesy of: Doug Ashford 1. Susan Meiselas, Pictures From 24.5" × 16.5" 1. Ivis Rojo (Red Ibis) Liberando Loras (Comrades Year 2, no. 5, July 1967; 1. ¡Luchar! variable a Revolution, 1991. Courtesy of: Susan Meiselas 6b. Geo 2010. Painted wooden sculpture. liberating parrots) Year 3, no. 7, November 1968; c.1980s. Photo paper. 9.5" × 6.5" WALL 3 1979. Tearsheet. 10.5" × 16.5" 20.5" × 25" c.1980. Painting. 23.5" × 20" Year 3, no. 8, January 1969. Courtesy of: Doug Ashford 3. William Agudelo. Mártires de (left to right) download the Look & Listen app 8a. Muchacho withdrawing from Courtesy of: Susan Meiselas, Courtesy of: Ernesto Cardenal Courtesy of: Ernesto Cardenal 8.5“ × 11" Solentiname and hold your mobile device over commercial district of Masaya Magnum Photography Courtesy of: The Nettie Lee 2. ¡Luchar! Invitation Postcards 1983. Poster. 15.25" × 23" Vitrine: the photographs. Press the play after three days of bombing 1978. 2. Cactus Redondo (Round 2. Elena Pineda. Nicaragua en Benson Latin American Collection, c. 1980s. 6 × 4" Courtesy of: Marcos Agudelo button where it appears.) Chromogenic print. 24.5" × 16.5" 6c. Geo Cactus) Libertad (Nicaragua in freedom) University of Texas Libraries Courtesy of: Doug Ashford 22. FMLN Flag Courtesy of: Susan Meiselas 1979. Tearsheet. 10.5" × 8.25" 2015. Painted wooden sculpture. 1984. Painting. 20" × 30" 4. William Agudelo. Laureano c. 1980s 28.5 ‘’ × 14" 1. Youths practice throwing Courtesy of: Susan Meiselas, 12" × 12" × 18.5" Courtesy of: Elena Pineda Letter to Ernesto Cardenal from 3. ¡Luchar! Papers (4) Mairena Courtesy of: Doug Ashford contact bombs in forest 8b. Monimbo woman carrying her Magnum Photography Courtesy of: Ernesto Cardenal 3. Olivia Silva. Jesus es Thomas Merton c. 1980s. 8.5" × 11" 1984. Poster. 15.25" × 23" surrounding Monimbo dead husband home to be buried Despositado en La Tumba (Jesus May 10, 1965. 8.5“ × 11" Courtesy of: Doug Ashford Courtesy of: Marcos Agudelo 23. Two Flags, FDR and El 1978. Chromogenic print. in their backyard, Masaya 6d. Geo 4. Tucán (Toucan) deposited in the tomb) Courtesy of: The Nettie Lee Salvador 16.5" × 24.5" 1979. Chromogenic print. 1979. Tearsheet. 10.5" × 8.25" 2009. Painted wooden sculpture. 1984. Painting. 21.5" × 15" Benson Latin American Collection, 4. Artists Call Letter (2) 2. Gloria Guevara. Cristo c. 1980s. 12.5" × 9.25" Courtesy of: Susan Meiselas 24.5" × 16.5" Courtesy of: Susan Meiselas, 21.25" × 23.5" Courtesy of: Hermann Schulz University of Texas Libraries c. 1980s. 8.5" × 11" Guerrillero and 12" × 8.5" Courtesy of: Susan Meiselas Magnum Photography Courtesy of: Ernesto Cardenal Courtesy of: Doug Ashford 2011. Painting. 17.75" × 19.5" Courtesy of: Doug Ashford 2a. President Anastasio Somoza 4. Rodolfo Arellano. Asalto al Courtesy of: Marcos Agudelo Debayle opening new session of 9a. Returning home, Masaya, 6e. Geo 5. Cuartel San Carlos (Assault to 5. Artists General Statement 24. Group Material Badge the National Congress, June September 1979. Tearsheet. 10.5" × 16.25" 2011. Aluminum sculpture. San Carlos quartel) c. 1980s. 8.5" × 11" c. 1980s 1978. 1978. Chromogenic print. Courtesy of: Susan Meiselas, 15.75" × 17" 1979. Painting. 20" × 30" Sandra Eleta, 1974 Courtesy of: Doug Ashford Chromogenic print. 24.5" × 16.5" 24.5" × 16.5" Magnum Photography Courtesy of: Ernesto Cardenal Courtesy of: Ernesto Cardenal 25. Bolivar Arellano Courtesy of: Susan Meiselas Courtesy of: Susan Meiselas 1.Sandra Eleta. En el San Juan de 6. Artist Letter with Signatures (2) 1982. Photograph. 10" × 8" 6f. Geo 6. Tucán (Toucan) 5. Julia Chavarria. La Matanza de la Cruz (In San Juan de la Cruz) c. 1980s. 8.5" × 11" Courtesy of: Doug Ashford 2b. Car of a Somoza informer 9b. Awaiting counterattack by the 1979. Tearsheet. 10.5" × 16.25" 2013. Wooden sculpture. Los Inocentes (Murder of the 1974. Inkjet print from 35mm Courtesy of: Doug Ashford burning in Managua Guard in Matagalpa Courtesy of: Susan Meiselas, 24.5" × 10" innocent) negative. 19" × 13" 26. Artists Call 1978. Chromogenic print. 1978. Chromogenic print. Magnum Photography Courtesy of: Ernesto Cardenal 1984. Painting. 20" × 14" Courtesy of: Sandra Eleta 7. Artists Call Letter Dec. 1983 1984. 37" × 23.5" 24.5" × 16.5" 24.5" × 16.5" Courtesy of: Hermann Schulz c. 1980s. 8.5" × 11" Courtesy of: Doug Ashford Courtesy of: Susan Meiselas Courtesy of: Susan Meiselas 7. Boston Globe 7. Agave 2. Sandra Eleta. En el San Juan de Courtesy of: Doug Ashford 1981. Tearsheet. 12.25" × 21.5" 2014. Steel sculpture. 6. Julia Chavarria. Muerte de la Cruz (In San Juan de la Cruz) 27. CISPES 1868–1983 Timeline: 3a. A funeral procession in Tear sheets: Courtesy of: Susan Meiselas, 56.75" × 56.75" × 53.75" Jesus (Death of Jesus) 1974. Inkjet print from 35mm 8. Artists Call, Big Downtown (Committee in Solidarity with the Jinotepe for assassinated Magnum Photography Courtesy of: Ernesto Cardenal 1984. Painting. 21.5" × 14" negative, 13" × 19" Opening Poster People of El Salvador ) student leaders. Demonstrators 1. The Sunday Times Courtesy of: Hermann Schulz Courtesy of: Sandra Eleta c. 1980s. 8.5" × 11" 1982. 36" × 37" carry a photograph of Arlen Siu, 1978. Tearsheet. 11.75" × 18.5" 8. Sandinistas at the walls of 8. Pequeno Tapir (Small Tapir) Courtesy of: Doug Ashford Exhibition copy from P.S. 1 Courtesy of: Susan Meiselas, the National Guard headquarters, 2017. Uncarved wood 18" × 10" 7. Esperanza Guevara. La Traicion 3. Sandra Eleta. Misa comunitaria (Project Studios One) Winter 1984 the mountains three years earlier Magnum Photography “Molotov Man" , Esteli, July 16, × 6" (The betrayal) en la Casa Grande (Communitary 9. Artists Call Listing of catalogue 1978. Chromogenic print. 1979. Chromogenic print. Courtesy of: Ernesto Cardenal 1975. Painting. 21.5" × 14" Mass in the Main House) Exhibitions and Events (5) 24.5" × 16.5" 2a. New York Times Magazine 24.5" × 16.5" Courtesy of: Hermann Schulz 1974. Inkjet print from 35mm c. 1980s. 8.5" × 11" Courtesy of: Susan Meiselas cover Courtesy of: Susan Meiselas 9. Lora Verde (Green Parrot) negative, 13" × 19" Courtesy of: Doug Ashford 12.25" × 10.5" 2009. Painted wooden sculpture. 8. Mariita Guevara. Jesus Expulsa Courtesy of: Sandra Eleta 3b. Courtesy of: Susan Meiselas, 17.5" × 7" × 18.5" a Los Mercaderes del Tempolo 10. Artists Call Against Action state portrait of Anastasio Magnum Photography Courtesy of: Ernesto Cardenal (Jesus expels the marchants 4. Sandra Eleta. Misa (Mass) Newspaper Article Somoza Debayle as President from the temple) 1974. Inkjet print from 35mm c. 1980s. 22.5" × 14" and Commander-in-Chief of the 2b. New York Times Magazine 10. Ivis (Ibis) 1981. Painting. 22" × 14.75" negative, 13" × 19" Courtesy of: Doug Ashford armed forces 1978. Tearsheet. 12.5"× 21.25" 1994. Painted wooden sculpture. Courtesy of: Hermann Schulz Courtesy of: Sandra Eleta 1978. Chromogenic print. Courtesy of: Susan Meiselas, 7" × 12.5" × 25.75" 11. P.S. 1 Exhibition Description 24.5" × 16.5" Magnum Photography Courtesy of: Teresita and William 9. Esperanza Guevara. 5. Sandra Eleta. Iglesia Nuestra c. 1980s. 8.5" × 11" Courtesy of: Susan Meiselas 3a. Time Agudelo El degollamiento de Juan el Señora de Solentiname (Church Courtesy of: Doug Ashford 1978 Tearsheet. 10.75" × 8" Bautista (The beheading of John of our Lady of Solentiname) 4a. Searching everyone traveling Susan Meiselas, Magnum 11. Tapir the Baptist) 1974. Inkjet print from 35mm Below red line: by car, truck, bus, or foot, Photography 2005. Wooden sculpture. 1981. Painting. 22" × 15" negative, 13" × 19"

Managua 36" × 19.75" Courtesy of: Hermann Schulz Courtesy of: Sandra Eleta 12. A 50 Anos 1978. Chromogenic print. 3b. Time Courtesy of: Ernesto Cardenal c. 1980s. 11" × 14" 24.5" × 16.5" 1978. Tearsheet. 10.75" × 8" 10. Pablo Mayorga. Jesus ante 6. Sandra Eleta. Sin título Courtesy of: Doug Ashford Courtesy of: Susan Meiselas Courtesy of: Susan Meiselas, 12. Nopal (Prickly Pear) Pilato (Jesus in front of Pilatus) (Untitled) Magnum Photography 2011. Wooden sculpture. 1984. Painting. 21.5" × 14.5" 1974. Inkjet print from 35mm 13. US No Intervention 4b. Marketplace in Diriamba 36.25" × 21.5" Courtesy of: Hermann Schulz negative, 19" × 13" c. 1980s. 16" × 21.5" 1978. Chromogenic print. 3c. Time Courtesy of: Ernesto Cardenal Courtesy of: Sandra Eleta Courtesy of: Doug Ashford 24.5" × 16.5" 1979. Tearsheet. 10.75" × 8" 11. Oscar Mairena. Palo de mango Courtesy of: Susan Meiselas Courtesy of: Susan Meiselas, 13. Colibri (Humming Bird) frente a la iglesia (Mango tree in 7. Sandra Eleta. Atardecer en el 14. Mujer Magnum Photography 2007. Wooden sculpture. front of the church) Gran Lago (Sunset into the Great c. 1980s. 22" × 17" 5a. Guard patrol in Masaya 19.25" × 19.75" 1975. Painting. 15" × 22" Lake) Courtesy of: Doug Ashford beginning house-to-house 3d. Nicaragua ––Time Courtesy of: Ernesto Cardenal Courtesy of: Teresita and William 1974. Inkjet print from 35mm search for Sandinistas 1978. Tearsheet. 10.75" × 8" Agudelo negative, 13" × 19" 15. MOA CST 1979. Chromogenic print. Courtesy of: Susan Meiselas, 14. Garza Pico Largo (Long Peak c. 1980s. 32" × 21.5" 24.5" × 16.5" Magnum Photography Heron) 12. Miriam Guevara. Iglesia 8. Sandra Eleta. Familia Agudelo Courtesy of: Doug Ashford Courtesy of: Susan Meiselas 2010. Wooden sculpture. 30" × 20" de Solentiname (Church of (Agudelo family) 4a. Manchete Courtesy of: Ernesto Cardenal Solentiname) 1974. Inkjet print from 35mm 16. Peace Poster Blue and 5b. 1979. Tearsheet. 13" × 20.25" 1980. Painting. 20" × 30" negative, 13" × 19" Orange supporter’s house burned Courtesy of: Susan Meiselas, 15. Lengua de Suegra (Snake Plant) Courtesy of: Silvia Marcela Villa Courtesy of: Sandra Eleta c. 1980s. 23.5" × 19" in Monimbo, asking, "Where Magnum Photography 2014. Painted steel sculpture. Courtesy of: Doug Ashford is Norman Gonzalez? The 49" × 49" × 44.5" 13. Eduardo Arana. Islas (Island) 9. Sandra Eleta. Oscar (?) en el dictatorship must answer." 4b. Manchete Courtesy of: Ernesto Cardenal 1975. Painting. 12" × 15.75" taller de artesanías (Oscar in the 17. Guatemala Poster, Red Title 1978. Chromogenic print. 1978. Tearsheet. 12.75" × 20.5 " Courtesy of: Marcos Agudelo hand craft workshop) c. 1980s. 25" × 17" 24.5" × 16.5" Courtesy of: Susan Meiselas, 16. Guardatinaja (Lowland Paca) 1974. Inkjet print from 35mm Courtesy of: Doug Ashford Courtesy of: Susan Meiselas Magnum Photography 2009. Wooden sculpture. 13" × 8" negative, 13" × 19" Courtesy of: Ernesto Cardenal Courtesy of: Sandra Eleta 18. El Salvador Poster, Red and 6a. "Cuesta del Plomo," hillside 5a. German Geo White outside Managua, a well-known 1978. Tearsheet. 10.5" × 16.5" (above) Vitrine c. 1980s. 20" × 29.5" site of many assassinations Courtesy of: Susan Meiselas, Courtesy of: Doug Ashford carried out by the National Magnum Photography 17. Cardumen (School of Fish) Ernesto Cardenal. El Evangelio en Guard. People searched here 2008. Steel sculpture dimensions Solentiname, Volumen Primero. 19. El Salvador Poster daily for missing persons 5b. German Geo Courtesy of: Ernesto Cardenal 1979. Book. 7.75“ × 10.75“ c. 1980s. 22" × 16" 1978. Chromogenic print. 1978. Tearsheet. 10.5" × 16.5" Courtesy of: Marcos Agudelo Courtesy of: Doug Ashford 24.5" × 16.5" Courtesy of: Susan Meiselas, 18. Pez (Fish) Courtesy of: Susan Meiselas Magnum Photography 1974. Painted wooden sculpture. Ernesto Cardenal. El Evangelio en 20. Artists Call Music Festival 6" × 16" × 18" Solentiname, Volumen Segundo. Poster 6b. 5c. German Geo Courtesy of: Teresita and William 1979. Book. 7.75“ × 10.75“ c. 1980s. 18" × 24" 1979. Chromogenic print. 1978. Tearsheet. 10.5" × 16.5" Agudelo Courtesy of: Marcos Agudelo Courtesy of: Doug Ashford 24.5" × 16.5" Courtesy of: Susan Meiselas, Courtesy of: Susan Meiselas Magnum Photography BIOGRAPHIES SANDRA ELETA (b.1942) lives and Group Material treated curatorial over one million copies and has been works in Panama City and Portobelo. practice and the exhibition itself as translated into over ffteen languages. She has had solo exhibitions in Paris, an artistic medium. Group Material’s He wrote over sixty other books and MARCOS AGUDELO (b.1978) lives New York, Panama, Venezuela, Holland, exhibitions adopted activist stances hundreds of poems and articles on topics and works in Managua, Nicaragua. He Argentina, and Madrid. Since the late towards timely issues, as exemplifed ranging from monastic spirituality to civil trained as an architect at the National 70’s Eleta has worked independently by their Timeline exhibitions. In rights, nonviolence, and the nuclear arms Engineering University in Managua with the ARCHIVES Agency, New addition to Timeline: A Chronicle of U.S. race. He worked as an English teacher and later specialized in the feld in York. She has published her photographs Intervention in Central and Latin America before converting to Roman Catholicism Barcelona with an emphasis on urban in various magazines such as CAMARA (1984), there was the AIDS Timeline whilst at Columbia University, and planning and sustainable tropical in Switzerland and Aperture, New (1989–90)—exhibited at University of in 1941, he entered the Abbey of architecture. In 2006, he won the II York. Her 1982 publication, Nostalgia California at Berkeley, which sought Gethsemani, a community of monks Exhibit of Emerging Art in Central del Futuro, includes texts by Ernesto to illustrate the complex political and belonging to the Order of Cistercians of America organized by the Museum of Cardenal alongside her photographs. cultural reception of the disease. Other the Strict Observance (Trappists), the Contemporary Art and Design in San Eleta studied fne arts at Finch College projects include the Democracy series— most ascetic Roman Catholic monastic José, Costa Rica and in 2008 he won and social investigation at Te New held at the Dia Art Foundation between order. Referring to race and peace as frst place at the VI Central American School of Social Research in New 1988 and 1989—exploring the theme the two most urgent issues of our time, Visual Art Biennial. His pieces have York. Later, Eleta took courses at the of democracy through a continually Merton was a strong supporter of the been exhibited in the Latin American International Center of Photography changing exhibition (supplemented nonviolent civil rights movement. Pavilion at the Arsenale during the (ICP), and taught at Universidad by town meetings and roundtable His involvement in the political arena 55th International Art Exhibition in Nacional de Costa Rica. Sandra Eleta is discussions) over a period of four months. garnered criticism from the Catholic Venice, Italy (2013), the García Lorca Panama’s most renowned photographer. In 2006, members Doug Ashford and community, which prompted—in Great Teatre of Havana during the Julie Ault began building an archive of his later years—an interest in eastern 11th Havana Biennial (2012), New JULIO CORTAZAR (1914–1984) Group Material which can be found at religions and creating a dialogue York’s Museo del Barrio as part of the was a prolifc Argentine novelist and the Fales Library & Special Collections surrounding east/west monastic cultures. “Te Street Files” exhibit (2011), Santo short-story writer whose experimental at NYU. Te history of Group Material Domingo’s Museum of Modern Art writing techniques have had a wide is compiled in the publication Show and during the I Caribbean International infuence. During his lifetime, he also Tell: a Chronicle of Group Material, edited Triennial (2010), in two editions of produced various works of poetry and by Julie Ault with essays by Ashford, the Central American Contemporary drama in both fction and nonfction. Ault, Sabrina Locks, and Tim Rollins. Art Biennial (Tegucigalpa 2008 and Born in the war-torn Belgium, Cortazar Managua 2010) as well as in several and his family moved around Europe SUSAN MEISELAS (b. 1948) joined editions of the Nicaraguan Visual Art for the frst few years of his life before Magnum Photos in 1976 and has Biennial Fundación Ortíz-Gurdián settling in a suburb outside of Buenos worked as a freelance photographer since (2005, 2007 and 2009), with mentions Aires. By the 1950s, Cortazar had moved then. She is best known for her coverage in 2007 and 2009. He has appeared in to France where he began to publish of the insurrection in Nicaragua and her magazines Exit-Express (Spain), Código some of his most famous works. In 1981, documentation of human rights issues in (México) and ArtNexus (Colombia) and he received French citizenship, although Latin America. She published her second in anthologies such as Us and Tem, he kept his Argentine citizenship and monograph, Nicaragua, in 1981. Meiselas Young Ibero-American Artists (2010). continued to travel widely—including served as an editor and contributor to the Nicaragua—as he was a supporter of the book El Salvador: Te Work of Tirty ERNESTO CARDENAL (b.1925) popular political causes in Latin America. Photographers and edited Chile from is a Nicaraguan priest, poet, and His short story collections include Within featuring work by photographers political activist. Cardenal attended the Bestiario (1951; Bestiary), Final del Juego living under the Pinochet regime. She University of Mexico and Columbia (1956; End of the Game), Las Armas has co-directed two flms, Living at Risk: University in New York. He also studied Secretas (1958; Te Secret Weapons), Te Story of a Nicaraguan Family and in Kentucky with the scholar, poet, Historias de Cronopios y de Famas (1962; Pictures from a Revolution with Richard and Trappist monk Tomas Merton. Cronopios and Famas), and Todos los P. Rogers and Alfred Guzzetti. In 1997, Cardenal has been involved in the Fuegos el Fuego (1966; All Fires the Fire). she completed a six-year project curating tumultuous political scene in Nicaragua Another story, “Las babas del diablo” a hundred-year photographic history Curated by: and Central America since the 1960s. (1958; “Te Devil’s Drivel”), served as of Kurdistan, integrating her own work Pablo León de la Barbra After being ordained in 1965, Cardenal the basis for Michelangelo Antonioni’s into the book Kurdistan: In the Shadow with Nicola Lees went on to the Solentiname Islands motion picture Blow-Up (1966). of History and developed akaKurdistan, and Ellesse Bartosik where he founded an artists colony Cortázar’s masterpiece, Rayuela (1963; an online site of exchange for collective Preliminary research for ‘Dream of based on the principles of liberation Hopscotch), is an open-ended novel where memory in 1998. Meiselas has had Solentiname’ was supported by the theology. Cardenal and the community the reader is invited to choose between one-woman exhibitions in Paris, Madrid, Independent Curators International of Solentiname supported the revolution a linear and nonlinear mode of reading Amsterdam, London, Los Angeles, (ICI) 2012 Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros (CPPC) Travel that overthrew Nicaragua’s President according to a plan prescribed by the Chicago, and New York, and her work is Award for Central America and the Somoza in 1979. After the liberation of author. It was the frst of the “boom” of included in collections around the world. Caribbean. Managua, Cardenal was named Minister Latin American novels of the 1960s to She has received the Robert Capa With special thanks to Erina of Culture by the new Sandinista regime; gain international attention. Cortázar’s Gold Medal for her work in Nicaragua Duganne, Ileana Selejan, Juanita a position he held from 1979-1988. other novels are Los premios (1960; (1979); the Leica Award for Excellence Bermúdez, Jennifer Hwang, Hugh Cardenal has published numerous Te Winners), 62: modelo para armar (1982); the Engelhard Award from O’Rourke, Ben Hatcher, Hermann volumes of poetry in both Spanish (1968; 62: A Model Kit), and Libro de the Institute of Contemporary Art Schulz, Madeline Turner, The Nettie Lee Benson Latin American and English, including Homage to the Manuel (1973; A Manual for Manuel). (1985); the Hasselblad Foundation Collection, University of Texas American Indians (1973), With Walker in Photography prize (1994); the Libraries, Americas Society, Marilys Nicaragua and Other Early Poems 1949- GROUP MATERIAL (1979–1996) Cornell Capa Infnity Award (2005) Downey, William and Teresita Agudelo, Luz Marina Acosta, Silvia 1954 (1984), Te Doubtful Strait (1995), was an artist collective active in New and most recently was awarded the Marcela Villa, Elena Pineda, Centro Cosmic Canticle (2002), Pluriverse: New York between 1979 and 1996. Te Harvard Arts Medal (2011). In 1992, Nicaragüense de Escritores, and and Selected Poems (2009), and Origin group described their formation she was named a MacArthur Fellow. Fundación Ortiz Gurdian of the Species and Other Poems (2011). as a “constructive response to the Meiselas received her BA from Sarah Design: Lucas Quigley He has received the Christopher Book unsatisfactory ways in which art has Lawrence College and her MA in visual Award, for Te Psalms of Struggle and been conceived, produced, distributed, education from Harvard University. This exhibition will tour to Museo Liberation (1971), a Premio de la Paz and taught.” Championing collaborative THOMAS MERTON (1915–1968) Jumex in Mexico City in March 2018. grant, the Libreros de la República exhibitions instead of individual artist was a Trappist monk as well as one of Federal de Alemania, and, in 2005, was shows, community engagement over the most well-known Catholic writers 80WSE, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY honored with the Order of Rubén Darío, exclusivity, and alternative spaces in lieu of the 20th century. His autobiography, 80 WASHINGTON SQUARE EAST for service to Nicaragua and humanity. of the customary white cube gallery, Te Seven Storey Mountain, has sold NEW YORK, NY, 10003