(MoCAArt.org)

                                 César Menéndez  (El Salvador, b 1954) La Danza del Équido, 2003, mixed media     on canvas, 78″ x 59″

When the Body Speaks in Color: Emotion, Memory & the Creative Brain

a talk by

Andrea Cardenal 

  Sunday, May 17, 2026
2:00 – 5:00 pm

serving creative & colorful canapes

The ANNEX
290 SE 2nd Avenue, Delray Beach, Florida

suzanne@MoCAArt.org

561 808.8587

This talk examines art as a form of embodied communication — a language that originates in the nervous system and often precedes words. It will explore how emotional memory is stored in the brain and body, why visual expression activates deep limbic networks, and how color, gesture, and texture can communicate experiences that language cannot fully articulate.

The lecture will also explore how art functions as a container for collective and inherited memory — particularly within cultures shaped by migration, displacement, resilience, and layered histories. In this way, creative practice becomes not only personal expression, but a bridge between generations.This offers a rich intersection of science, emotion, and cultural identity, inviting the audience to understand art as a biological, relational, and deeply human act.

Andrea Cardenal, a self-taught, third-generation Latin American artist and therapeutic art instructor, grew up in a family of opera singers, painters, and writers.
Born in the USA to a Salvadoran mother and Nicaraguan father, her childhood in El Salvador during its civil war shaped her early connection to art as a means of emotional expression. She holds Master’s Degrees in Art Therapy & Communications Management.

Elmar Rojas. De las magicas tradiciones: Torofuego II, 2016, piezograph, 59″ x 39″

Current Exhibition

Rituals in Central American Art

Dances, festivals, amulets, ceremonies, spirits and animals are celebrated in paintings, sculpture, textiles and jewelry in our new exhibition.

Art works by Carlos Mérida, Elmar Rojas, Isabel De Obaldia, Guillermo Trujillo, Francisco Amighetti, Moises Becerra, Benjamin Cañas, Cesar Menendez & more that demonstrate the rich cultural heritage where ancient beliefs about nature, community, and the spiritual world are often interwoven with Spanish colonial influences, creating unique expressions of traditions across Central America.

The ANNEX
290 SE 2nd Avenue, Delray Beach, Florida

suzanne@MoCAArt.org

561 808.8587

Coming Events/ Sunday Speaker Series

Sunday, June 14, 2:00 pm

Preview of the documentary
“A Journey to the Soul of Guna Yala”
With an introduction by its film director,
Stella Holmes

Stella Holmes is a documentary filmmaker, art historian, and collector whose work is guided by a lifelong belief in the power of art to bridge cultures and connect people.
She is the founder and president of The Brickellian, a documentary production company dedicated to exploring cross-cultural dialogue through art.

This documentary follows a University of Miami student returning to Panama’s Guna Yala Islands, a community of 360 islands striving to preserve its traditions. Central to the story are molas—handmade textiles that express Guna history and identity and are collected worldwide. The film explores the importance of preserving this art form and the challenges of protecting it from increasing commercial pressures.

Read about how Latin America is seen from across the Atlantic
by MoCAArt colleague, Johann Bonilla
Central America at ARCO Madrid 2026

Choose from 30 vintage molas to support us with your $500 donation.
Molas are handmade layered, reverse-appliqué textiles, representing nature, spiritual protection, and cultural narratives.The quality of a Mola is determined by the number of layers of cotton that is used and the fineness of the stitching.
The vintage molas of the 1960s are typically valued up to $500.

In the works:  A new book, Central American Postmodernism

a fascinating project to bridge the gap between the modernist movements and the contemporary art of Central America. Focusing on the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, these decades are a period of intense social and political transformation that influences each nation’s visual language and its artists.

Central American Modernism / Modernismo en Centroamérica
by Mark Ford & Suzanne Snider

MUSEUM OF CENTRAL
AMERICAN
ART

visit by appointment
The ANNEX
290 SE 2nd Avenue
Delray Beach, Florida 33444

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Contact Us
suzanne@MoCAArt.org   |   561.808.8587

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