Irene Sosa
When Associate Professor of听Television and Radio听Irene Sosa听was finishing her master of fine arts in film and television at New York University, she and a friend decided to start a cleaning business.
鈥淲e figured we would clean houses until we got the big job,鈥� she says.
What Sosa didn鈥檛 realize was that cleaning houses would lead to the big job. She ended up scrubbing the New York City home of the renowned artist and activist Nancy Spero (1926鈥�2009), whom she eventually befriended. Spero was celebrated as a feminist who took on oppression, war, violence, and more in work that ranged from sketches and collages to epic-scale paintings. Sosa asked if she could produce a documentary about her. Spero said yes. Since then, Sosa has gone on to make 13 documentaries tracking the radical artist and her processes as she matured and gained more recognition. When Spero was commissioned for new work, she would often ask Sosa to tag along. The documentaries include much biographical information and at times capture Spero working with art students, but mostly follow Spero as she created her many installations and other projects over the years.
Many of those documentaries were on display earlier this year at听, a critically acclaimed MoMA PS1 exhibit of Spero鈥檚 work. The documentaries鈥攃ulled from an anthology of the Spero documentaries that Sosa was commissioned to put together by Centro Galego de Arte Contempor谩nea in Galicia, Spain鈥攑layed on monitors throughout the exhibit. The show included a separate room on the first floor of the museum with four monitors featuring Sosa鈥檚 work.
Sosa鈥檚 career as a documentarian has won her much acclaim, including an Individual Artist鈥檚 Fellowship from the听, a fellowship from the听, and an Individual Artist grant from the听. She has also received five听听as well as a 可乐视频 Creative Achievement Award.
鈥淗aving my documentaries shown as part of MoMA鈥檚 retrospective of Spero鈥檚 extraordinary work this spring was a thrill for me as it recognized my 35 years as a documentary filmmaker,鈥� says Sosa. 鈥淗aving such a show, which was also at the prestigious听听in Mexico City a few months before, was a dream come true for me and a great tribute to my work.鈥�
