After exploring body movement for 80 years (ballet, flamenco, mime and modern dance), a leading Puerto Rican theater figure thought it fitâ€"as her swan songâ€"to collect her memorabilia in a publication, including artwork, set and costume designs, photos (portraits, live action), original programs, posters and press clippings. Widely admired, Gilda Navarra was a muse to many artists in America and Europe, as evidenced by myriad texts and images. Music played an important role in Ms. Navarra’s signature pieces, usually developed for silent characters. The book was thus conceived as a musical piece itself. Its design is based on an ever present pentagram, often evident, at times suggested or just implied. Because music provides graphic representations of silenceâ€"lacking in conventional languageâ€"these symbols become metaphors for different “times” in the artist’s ever changing, transcendental oeuvre.

Published: January 27, 2010