• Ruben Dario Park, 9825 W Flagler St, Miami, FL
Blanco
2023
Blank books, ink
Proposal
These passport-sized blank notebooks, with an indelible yet anonymous fingerprint on each cover, refer to hundreds of Nicaraguan dissidents whose nationality was recently withdrawn and passports canceled by the Nicaraguan government after they were expelled from the country. The work seeks to question issues around identity, citizenship and displacement, echoing the rupture experienced by those who forcibly leave their country, as well as the invisibility inflicted by not having official documents or a country to represent them. Located at the feet of Nicaraguan poet Rubén Darío, in this emblematic park for the Nicaraguan diaspora in Miami, the work seeks to highlight the psychological aspect of the exiled hinting at one of Darío’s best known phrases, “If the homeland is small, one dreams it big,” which points to the condition of the exiled and the longing that floods him/her/them without being able to return.
Biography
Marisa Telleria was born in Nicaraguan. Lives and works in Miami, FL. She earned a BFA from Florida International University and an MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University. Her work has been shown in museums and galleries in the US, Latin America and Europe.