Statement
My work attempts to reconstruct personal and collective histories of erasure through reconfiguration, deconstruction and fragmentation. Through unconventional portraiture, collage, the use of text and sculpture, my multimedia practice investigates the intersections of race, representation and belonging, considering the impact of migration and colonization on the formation of identity, the constant hybridization of cultures, communication technologies and the concept of beauty. I migrated from Argentina to the U.S. as a young adult and around the same time I learned about my Mapuche and Guaraní Indigenous heritage. These shifts across countries, cultures, economies, beliefs and languages sparked an interest in examining the nuances of identity, the manifesting cultural changes that create a transformation towards the future and the liminal space I inhabit as a woman of color, immigrant and descendant of European and Indigenous Peoples from South America.
In my practice I primarily use digital photography as a foundation to transform traditional prints into three-dimensional visual objects by adding other materials like wood, paint, resin, paper, fabrics, etc. This process allows me to create a hybrid medium that sits between photography and sculpture. Working with both, figurative and abstraction I oftentimes intuitively explore form, shape and color. At times I use materials that refer to material economy. Choices of materials and processes have been influenced by construction, wood craftsmanship and tailoring family practices. Through my work, I make evident patterns that often refer to symbology that have adopted a personal meaning like the square representational of the pixel and the Wiphala flag. My use of color is also symbolic, particularly the use of pink and blue, which I associate with duality. They represent for me the dichotomy of my identities.
I am interested in the reconfiguration of images and utilizing fragmentation as a way to express the complexity of who we are, the amalgamation of cultures and changing the way our stories are told—utilizing the language of color and beauty to heal and tell stories of resistance.