—Michael A Mohammed

BEA A. CAMACHO ’05

Over the past few years, Harvard students may have witnessed a person crochet herself into a cocoon, attended an art exhibit in an inflatable gallery, or tried on some gloves with three-foot long fingers. If so, they are among the individuals who have encountered the innovative work of Roberta Beatriz “Bea” A. Camacho ’05, one of Harvard’s most talented visual artists.

Camacho, who is also a Crimson editor, left her home in the Philippines at age eleven for High Wycombe, England, and moved to the United States to attend Harvard. This transience in her surroundings led naturally to the central theme of her art.

“My work explores isolation and the situations that create it,” Camacho says. “My experience of having left home informs and inspires this work,” which she says “aims to address physical, emotional and mental separation.”

While art relating to such personal topics has the potential to come off as self-indulgent and hackneyed, Camacho’s is neither. Much of the poignancy in her work stems from its originality.

For example, Camacho recently crocheted herself into a large red cocoon over eleven straight hours, without food, drink, or even a bathroom break. The entire performance was videotaped, and will be played in real-time during the showing of “Unplaced,” the VES senior thesis exhibition, which includes Camacho’s sculpture, video, performance, sound, photography, and installation works for her thesis.

However, those who want to see all of Camacho’s art, including the cocoon video, would be well-advised to attend the exhibition soon after it opens on May 5. Her final Harvard project involves storing all her work in large cardboard boxes, piece by piece, while it is all still on display. Every night or two, she will remove something from the exhibit, place it in a box, and seal it closed, until all that remains visible are the labeled boxes. The end result is a final exploration of the theme of isolation that is so prevalent throughout her work.

“There is a withdrawal that is signaled by acts of hiding, putting away, and sealing, and a rejection of external contact that is demonstrated by cardboard boxes,” she says.

Throughout her work, Camacho considers “mediated forms of communications, connections, disconnections, privacy, absence and transience.” This is well exemplified in her “extremely elongated gloves and sleeve-like sculptures.” While her friends say that the long-fingered gloves could create a popular fashion trend, Camacho focuses on conveying a sense of disconnect and isolation.

“They could go on forever, but still don’t touch anything,” she says of the snake-like crocheted black fingers.

Her other works include a portable “Inflatable Museum” that she and Han Yu ’06 co-designed, created, and curated last February, as well as an “interactive fabric” she crafted last year from mohair and electroluminescent wire that lights up when touched.

During her time at Harvard, Camacho has shown her work in the Signet, the Carpenter Center, the Adams Artspace, the Lowell bell tower, and in the pages of The Advocate. After graduation, she hopes to move to New York City, where her work can find a whole new audience.