Tirzo Martha • Pérez Art Museum Miami

Tirzo Martha’s prolific body of work spans sculpture, video, installation, and performance art. His urge and need to create art has its origin not only in his ability to be creative but also in his humanitarian and social engagement. Although his presentations vary greatly in appearance, his social involvement and the way in which he involves his audience both directly and indirectly in his creative process are common threads in his works. Martha studied art at the Akademia di Arte Kòrsou before moving to the Netherlands to study fashion and visual art. He returned to Curaçao in 1991. In 2006, he cofounded the Instituto Buena Bista (IBB), a center for contemporary art in Curaçao and a platform dedicated to art and education. Martha has had many solo exhibitions, including in the Netherlands at the Museum van Bommel van Dam in Venlo, Museum Beelden aan Zee in The Hague, and CODA Museum in Apeldoorn; in Curaçao at the Museo di Kòrsou; in the United States at the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum in Miami; and in France at Paris Fashion Week 2020. His work also has been featured in group exhibitions, including at the Stedelijk Museum Schiedam in the Netherlands, HYBRID CULTURES in Amsterdam, American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center in Washington, DC, the Hong-gah Museum in Taiwan, the Museum of Fine Arts in Split, Croatia; and the Havana Biennial.

Tirzo Martha’s workshop and live collective performance is presented at PAMM as part of Beyond Representation, a research project and performance series that investigates a broad range of performance and performative practices by artists from the Caribbean or of Caribbean descent working in the region or its diasporas. It features an intergenerational group of artists—from pioneers in the field to emerging artists—who employ the body or rely on bodily experience and live action to critically engage with the social, political and cultural reality in their respective contexts.

Beyond Representation on PAMMTV

The online component of Beyond Representation highlights the abundant contributions made by Caribbean creators to performance art. Featuring video-performance works by Tirzo Martha, Jeannette Ehlers, Carlos Martiel, Viveca Vázquez, and Merián Soto, this PAMMTV exhibition exposes and refuses oppressive colonial ideologies while creating multiple narratives of freedom, healing, solidarity, and joy.

In dialogue with the collective performance Act of Valor, which will be presented at PAMM in February 27, 2025, Martha’s video performance I Wonder If They’ll Laugh When I’m Dead also references the figure of Captain Caribbean, an artistic persona that emerged in the artist’s practice in 2009. Loaded with sarcasm and humor, Martha’s video piece blends performance, animation, and archival documentary footage to address the ongoing effects of slavery and colonialism in present-day Curaçao. Visit pamm.tv for full videos and more information.