10/15/09

Sonia Báez-Hernández  was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on April 26, 1958. After the April Revolution her family relocated to Puerto Rico. She identifies herself as Puerto-Dominican. This identification means “gatherings on exiles . . . , gathering on the edge of 'foreign' cultures; gathering in the haft-life, half-light of  foreign tongues (Bhabha 1991, 291). She holds an MFA in painting and drawing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, an MA in sociology from the University of California, Los Angeles, an ABD from the European Graduate School, New York, and a BA in political science from the University of Puerto Rico.

Báez-Hernández has been the recipient of academic grants and distinctions including Science fellowship (1995-1996), UCLA (University of California at Los Angeles) (1995–96); a critical studies fellow, Paris Program Critical Theory; and a visiting researcher at the Michel Foucault Center in Paris (1993–94). She was also a visiting researcher at the Michel Foucault Center, in Paris(1993–94). During 2002–2003, Báez-Hernández was an artist in residence at the Pollock-Krasner Foundation in New York.  In 2006, she was an artist-in-residence at Columbia College, Chicago. 

She has exhibited her drawings, painting, and installations at the Morlan Gallery, Lexington, Kentucky; the Norton Center for the Arts, Danville, Kentucky; the Royal College of Art, London; Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago; Museum of Modern Art, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; Juchitán Casa de Arte y Cultura and Calles y Sueños, Mexico; School of the Art Institute of Chicago; Gallery 2, Chicago; and Collage de las Americas, Chicago. Sonia has performed in Polvo Gallery, Chicago; the Diaspora Vibe Gallery, Miami; at the Body Modification Conference at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia; the Humboldt Park Stables Gallery, Chicago; Aguijon Theater, Chicago; Newyorican Poets Café, New York; School of the Art Institute of Chicago,and Gallery 2, Chicago.

Also a writer, Baez-Hernandez has published the following poems:  “Born Equal” in Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños Journal (2000); “Container” and "There Is Something” in Between the Heart and the Land: Latina Poets in the Midwest (2001) and “Enjambre de espejos” in Polvo 2002). She has published articles on Graffiti, Breast Cancer, and Tattoos in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Latinos and Latinas in the United States (2005) and is co-editor (with Anadeli Bencomo and Marc Zimmerman) of the book Ir y venir: Procesos transnacionales entre América Latina y el norte (2007); She published the following poems "Polvo azuloso," "Between Salome and Penelope" and “Instrusions"  in  Diálogo (2008) and a research paper, "A New Aesthetics of the Subject” in The NWSA Journal,  (December) 2009.

 In 2006 she completed production on Territories of the Breast, a feature documentary exploring the multiple crossroads of breast cancer, inequality in health care, gender crisis, medical knowledge, and artistic responses. The documentary traces Báez-Hernández’s experiences after being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2001. While at an outpatient facility in Chicago she canceled her surgery twice because her rights to know about treatment options and to participate in decisions about her care were violated. Through a series of networks   she applied to philanthropic organizations and finally had access to treatment, surgery, and reconstruction at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

 In Territories of the Breast, Sonia interviews Latina and African American breast cancer survivors Diana Solís, Tina Nava, Lucille Afua Gram, and Catherine Roach Connor, all of whom reveal their experiences with breast cancer. Watching the film, the viewer experiences a series of interwoven journeys that disclose the complexities of medical access and choices, gender crisis, and the process and meaning of becoming women.

 In 2006 Territories of the Breast was nominated as Best Documentary at the Fifth Annual Urban Mediamakers Film Festival, Atlanta, Georgia and in 2007 the documentary was officially at the Fifth Spaghetti Junction Urban Film Festival, Atlanta, Georgia, and The Latino Film Festival of Lexington, Kentucky; Women Miami Film Festival (2008); honor at Reel Sister Diaspora New York Film Festival with Spirit Award. Director, Jean-Rene Rinvil;Co-Director, Sonia Baez-Hernandez; composer of Trans-body, Diego Perez. For trailer www.vf-media.com and www.soniabaezhernandez.com

  References

Homi K. Bhabha, DissemiNation: Time Narrative, and the Margins of the modern Nation" in Nation and Narrative , ed. Homi K. Bhabha (New York: Routledge, 1990).