Spectator as Witness: Trauma and Testimonio in Contemporary Cuban Art

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Examining the phenomenon of (literary) testimonios with an interdisciplinary outlook may yield impressive results in the visual arts realm, and further work seems essential to achieve this. About Mendieta, many pieces by her (other than Rape Scene) might fit into the analytical framework you suggest. It remains to be clarified how that particular work relates to a testimonio, or her trauma. In short, please explain what is your interpretation of testimonio and how you plan to apply the analysis of said literary genre to the interpretation of the artworks proposed. Other than that, sources used in discussing Rape Scene might be expanded, or perhaps assessed more analytically; for instance, Alvarado's "racially coded" interpretation of Rape Scene is not exactly apposite regarding the unsolved rape and murder of Sarah Ann Ottens. How 'talk therapy,' 'rape play' (66), or BDSM (164) relate to Rape Scene that murder, your main topic, and the theoretical framework you propose are yet to be dealt with for the sake of academic soundness. Fusco's piece is probably the best-rendered artwork concerning your focal theory and the main topic, with Gonzalez-Torres' piece as another case in point regarding trauma and testimonio. Portrait of Ross in L.A. should be addressed in further detail than in its present form. Moreover, placing Portrait of Ross in L.A. within the 'final thoughts' section, and analyzing it so briefly, gives a (false) impression of hurriedness on your part and does not help this excellent paper in regard to structure or clarity. One possible solution might be devoting section 4 to a more careful analysis of the artwork by Gonzalez-Torres, and dedicating a fresh or separate 'final thoughts' section to your conclusions. 

No problems detected.

Author Response

Reviewer #1

 

Thank you for taking the time to review my article. I greatly appreciate your constructive and encouraging comments and believe that the changes you suggested have enhanced the article.

 

Below is a detailed list of the ways in which I implemented the feedback you provided.

 

Point 1:

• About Mendieta, many pieces by her (other than Rape Scene) might fit into the analytical framework you suggest. It remains to be clarified how that particular work relates to a testimonio, or her trauma. In short, please explain what is your interpretation of testimonio and how you plan to apply the analysis of said literary genre to the interpretation of the artworks proposed.

Response 1:

• In order to further connect Ana Mendieta’s Rape Scene to the definition provided for testimonio in the article, I inserted brief biographical details on page 2, lines 46-54, that are relevant to each artist’s personal experiences with trauma that formed the basis of the works examined in the article. This comes just before the definition and description I provide of testimonio and how it may manifest in visual practices (page 2, lines 54-65).

 

Point 2:

• Other than that, sources used in discussing Rape Scene might be expanded, or perhaps assessed more analytically; for instance, Alvarado's "racially coded" interpretation of Rape Scene is not exactly apposite regarding the unsolved rape and murder of Sarah Ann Ottens. How 'talk therapy,' 'rape play' (66), or BDSM (164) relate to Rape Scene that murder, your main topic, and the theoretical framework you propose are yet to be dealt with for the sake of academic soundness.

Response 2:

• On page 3, lines 100-109, I clarified the ways in which Mendieta’s Rape Scene relates to experiences of racial violence, including the artist’s own, and how Mendieta utilized testimonio-driven strategies, such as the concealment of identifying markers, to allow her own form to represent women who have experienced racially motivated violence. While the work itself was inspired by the tragic rape and murder of Sarah Ann Ottens, Mendieta’s insertion of the Latinx female body into the narrative creates an alternative scene that is, as Leticia Alvarado asserts, “racially coded.” This new paragraph includes an additional source in which Mendieta is directly quoted speaking about her experiences with racial and sexual discrimination as a Cuban exile in the United Stated. The aim is that this revision further clarifies the article’s goal in contributing towards the current scholarship on nuanced understandings of healing, ultimately participating in uncovering the complexities of living through and with trauma. Thus, while the artworks discussed are not examples of talk therapy, rape play, or BDSM, they similarly serve as possible forms of healing personal and collective traumas.

 

Point 3:

• Portrait of Ross in L.A. should be addressed in further detail than in its present form. Moreover, placing Portrait of Ross in L.A. within the 'final thoughts' section, and analyzing it so briefly, gives a (false) impression of hurriedness on your part and does not help this excellent paper in regard to structure or clarity. One possible solution might be devoting section 4 to a more careful analysis of the artwork by Gonzalez-Torres, and dedicating a fresh or separate 'final thoughts' section to your conclusions. 

Response 3:

• I appreciate your feedback on the possibility of further emphasizing Félix González-Torres’ Portrait of Ross in L.A. Due to the special issue focusing on film and photography, I feel strongly about keeping that section as is in order to maintain it as an alternative that does not reference trauma as graphically as what we see in films, photographs, and performances, without making it the focal point of the article.

 

Thank you again for your extremely helpful feedback.

 

Reviewer 2 Report

The article is well-written, consistent, and coherent. It raises an important topic of depicting trauma and ways of dealing with traumatic experiences in contemporary art. The selection of works allows the author to justify the thesis about the healing properties of art in the face of experienced traumas. The literature was well chosen and used in the text. I have no fundamental objections to the content of the article, which may not be very innovative, but it certainly contains interesting interpretations of contemporary works by well-known and lesser-known artists. The article can be published in the present form.

The article is well-written and understandable. Minor editing of English language required.

Author Response

Reviewer #2

 

Thank you for taking the time to review my article. I greatly appreciate your kind and encouraging comments about the article, as well as your recommendation for it to be published in its present form.

 

Thank you again for your extremely kind feedback.

Reviewer 3 Report

The article “Spectator as Witness: Trauma and Testimonio in Contemporary Cuban Art” is an excellent foray into the visual manifestations of testimonio in contemporary Cuban and diasporic art. The author focuses on the works of Coco Fusco, Felix-Gonzales Torres and Ana Mendieta that engage the spectators with personal and collective traumas related to sexual violence, sexual discrimination and colonized stereotypical views of non-European minorities given the artists’ own personal experiences as the “other” to Western societies’ gaze – be it as dissident, immigrant, Latinx, queer, or woman. The author perfectly enters in conversation with previous scholars’ assessments and shows the potential of these artists’ significant works to function as healing processes meant to engage spectators as witnesses so as to rework kindred traumas. But the author also pertinently and significantly pinpoints these artworks’ limitations as to ethical concerns, especially the discomfort they can induce for survivors of the situations they exhibit and suggests alternative forms of visual manifestations.

The article is very thoughtfully structured into four interconnected parts (with very well-chosen titles) that offer an elegant, rounded, and sound analysis of the artists’ strategies of construction. It moves from Ana Mendieta’s 1973 performance Rape Scene to Fusco and Gomez-Pena’s caged and spectator-response embodied performance from 1992-1993 Two Undiscovered Amerindiens Visit… and to the 1991 disembodied performance about the death-causing effects of HIV by Gonzalez-Torres. I particularly liked the author’s engagement with the wonder gaze, fetishizing gaze, the spectacularization of the other and the control and sexualization of non-white races even by contemporary spectators: all these aspects were exquisitely unpacked and examined.

My only suggestion for improvement relates to giving a few bio details about the artists when they are first mentioned in the article, on page 2, lines 45-46. I think a brief overview of their popularity and relevance on the Cuban and world art scene would give even more weight to the extraordinarily well-built arguments of the article. And I think it is necessary to be given here, even if later we will get further details of the artists’ traumatic experiences that formed the basis of the works explored in the article. 

To make the meaning very clear for all readers, please also include a footnote explaining for what BDSM practices stand for (page 4, lines 163-164).

Finally, on page 9, line 341, there is a typo, so please replace “uncover” by “uncovers”.

Overall, I think the article is a perfect fit for the journal Arts; I strongly recommend its publication and look forward to seeing it published.

Author Response

Reviewer #3

 

Thank you for taking the time to review my article. I greatly appreciate your constructive comments and believe that many of the changes you suggested have enhanced the analyses presented. I felt that you truly grasped the significance of the article and the main points it seeks to address.

 

Below is a detailed list of the ways in which I implemented the feedback you provided.

 

Point 1:

• My only suggestion for improvement relates to giving a few bio details about the artists when they are first mentioned in the article, on page 2, lines 45-46. I think a brief overview of their popularity and relevance on the Cuban and world art scene would give even more weight to the extraordinarily well-built arguments of the article. And I think it is necessary to be given here, even if later we will get further details of the artists’ traumatic experiences that formed the basis of the works explored in the article. 

Response 1:

• In order to further connect the works discussed throughout the article to the artist’s lives, I inserted brief biographical details on page 2, lines 46-54, that are relevant to each artist’s personal experiences with trauma that formed the basis of the works examined in the article. This comes just before the definition and description I provide of testimonio and how it may manifest in visual practices (page 2, lines 54-65).

 

Point 2:

• To make the meaning very clear for all readers, please also include a footnote explaining for what BDSM practices stand for (page 4, lines 163-164).

Response 2:

• On page 4, line 190, I added a note that provides a definition of BDSM and what the acronym stands for. The note itself can be found on page 10, lines 432-433.

 

Point 3:

• Finally, on page 9, line 341, there is a typo, so please replace “uncover” by “uncovers”.

Response 3:

• On page 9, line 368, the typo was changed from “uncover” to “uncovers.” Thank you for catching that.

 

Thank you again for your extremely helpful feedback. I enjoyed reading your comments and hope to encounter your work in the future.