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Maria M. Agosto

Performance artist: on illness & women's issues
Advisory Board

Belleville, Illinois, U.S.A.

MAgosto59@aol.com

Maria M. Agosto is a Bronx-born, bilingual Nuyorican, currently living in Illinois. She graduated Williams College, MA, with a degree in English and Women's Studies in 1995 at the School-Of-Hard-Knocks ripened age of 36. TAKE 5, her first work in video, and lauded by such esteemed members of the Latino/a community as Gloria Anzaldua, was requested for use as an educational tool for the college community by then-college president Harry Payne. Images from her work were included in a 1994 installation-art piece by MacArthur prize-winning artist Amalia Mesa-Baines. She is the recipient of various honors including the Ford-Mellon minority research scholarship.

Agosto moved into multimedia performance-art in 1995, examining issues of race, class, gender, and sexuality through her work. In the fall of 1997, Agosto was confronted with a nearly fatal attack of Dermatomyositis, which led to her interest in patient advocacy and Dermatology. Her research has been included in the Puerto Rican national archives and has led to invitations as lecturer and keynote speaker at various diversity/health-centered events. From her hospital bed she began the notes that led to Lupine is Divine, her performance piece that speaks to the specific experiences of the chronically ill. Forced to take an almost six-year hiatus from her work in order to concentrate on her health, Agosto began writing again in 2001, continuing to focus on the plight of the disenfranchised.

"...I stand for this. If we meet the world with eyes that do not flinch and hearts that are open, we will find ourselves capable of what is asked of us...."
John Robbins

Articles by Maria M. Agosto in Dermanities

Articles by Maria M. Agosto in Pubmed