Butterfly Swimmer 2002 is part of a larger project on disabled athletes Ana Busto has been working on since the Fall of 2001.
White Box presents Butterfly Swimmer 2002 by Ana Busto. A photograph of
monumental proportions Butterfly Swimmer 2002 is part of a larger project on
disabled athletes she has been working on since the Fall of 2001. Busto met
these athletes in Spain and Argentina's national and world swimming
championships, and in two of New York's non-profit training clubs, Cranks and
Achilles. These athletes fight great odds to find strength in themselves and
the competitions they enter are an arena to prove their physical performance,
however they also provide a more abstract measure of the athletes strength of
character.
To look at Jesus' Collado'sbody makes us wonder; What happened to him?
How did he decide to become a swimmer? How can he be a champion? An
un-whole body confronts us with the experience of hard survival, a
survival on the edge of our community and dark side of our physique. We
associate disability with taboo with physical discomfort and our bodies'
fragility. Despite our associations, Paralympic athletes prove they are
able to overcome our prejudices by surpassing us in effort, focus,
determination, and commitment which makes us reverse our image of them.
Jesus Collado is a Spanish Paralympic gold medal swimmer who competed in
the last Olympic games in Sydney. Jesus looks straight at us. He looks
proud and strong. When he competes in the Olympic pools he is dominated
by his will to win, to be perfect in his stroke, and to break a new
record. Jesus has achieved every athletes dream to get a gold medal in
the Olympic games. For Jesus, the only difference between him and an
ordinary Olympic athlete is the 2 or 3 seconds more it takes him to
reach the finish line.
"My intention in placing images in public is to bring the image into our
daily visual landscape and make their presence common. I foresee a group
of disabled people who, with the aid of artifice, will become
cyborgs-models of physical and mental strength and we'll look at them as
role models. "
A. Busto
Viewing hours: Tuesday-Saturday 11am - 6pm
White Box
525 West 26th Street
New York, NY 10001
Tel 212-714-2347
Fax 212.714.2354