The Sacred and The Profame

Pablo Cano and Flor Goodward.

Curated by Adriana Herrera

Nov. 7^th/2024 | MIFA (Miami International Fine Arts)

The Sacred and The Profane

The exhibition’s title draws from the revealing book, Le sacré et le profane, written by the great historian of religions Mircea Eliade in 1957. That was also the year Sputnik 1 was launched during the height of the Cold War, amidst the expansion of atheism and the replacement of ancient religions with the cult of personality of leaders who created Earthly hells. Eliade observed that since prehistory, sapiens have sought ways to connect—to “re-ligare” or unite with—manifestations of the sacred, asserting that we are, by nature, homo religiosus. We organize our worlds into ordinary time, governed by daily acts, and sacred time, filled with ceremonies that reflect a longing for transcendence.

Modernity was built in a profane way, living “outside the temple,” and desacralizing all acts. Still, myths, rites, and symbols persist—sometimes unnoticed—within the secularized world. Art and theater, whose ancient origins are rooted in religious rituals, remain inseparable from the continuous exploration of the human condition. For instance, the word “person” (from the Greek phersus) means “mask,” alluding to one who plays a role in the drama of existence. Both delve into the vital oscillation of the human being between the sacred and the profane.

The works of Pablo Cano and Florencia Godward share creative modes that are, in a sense, acts of faith, iconographies, or manifestations of the sacred, realized with a profound sense of freedom and a playful embrace of the paradoxes of the human condition. Cano, a cult artist, has spent decades bringing the universe of puppets into the world of contemporary art. “The word ‘marionette,'” he clarifies, “comes from the name of the Virgin Mary, while the English ‘puppet’ or pupa (chrysalis) means transformation. Religion and theater converge harmoniously and inspiringly in my artistic work.” His characters recount the history of humanity in various chapters, with singular tenderness and vulnerability, but also with a powerful invocation of the common good.

Godward, an emerging artist with a degree in psychology, is fascinated by the Jungian concept of “the shadow” in the construction of personality. This has led her to explore various mediums, focusing on the implications of the mask—and its convergence in events like circuses, carnivals, and other communal and family costume celebrations—as well as the responsibility each person has to construct their own character. By painting real public figures based on childhood portraits, where the choice of destiny—in a drifting world—is pure potentiality, she reveals how every individual’s act impacts the collective. Both Cano and Godward, as believing artists, traverse the sacred and the profane in everyday life, bringing them closer together: They guide us through shadows from the sacred and toward the light from the profane. By inventing or recreating characters that mirror the paradoxes of the present, they call on us to choose the mask most akin to our naked face—the most benevolent one for the era in which we live.