Concrete Family
Traditional family portrait taken with the intention of documenting faces in an unbiased way. This shot is an attempt to remove the emotional aspect of a gathering. Gold leaf is used to settle the expressions of the face and borrows from the idea of gold leaf being used as a wrapping layer to scientifically scan objects with a great level of detail.
HANDS OF THE SELF-EMPLOYED
Ongoing project that re-stages the hands of different self-employed people. Hand tattoos are in this instance as the ultimate commitment to self-employment. They use the stigma of being unemployable according to mainstream society and embrace it. By tattooing your hands you take control of your life and your future.
Pictured above: Grimes & Dr.Lakra
Pictured above: Grimes & Dr.Lakra
DEAD LIKE THE LIVING
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Inkjet Prints. Photography, 17x17 inches (2015)
Artist Statement:
This series explores different characters in the young adult range that seem to exist in a dystopian reality. Some may have gone through devastating events and are currently surviving in some sort of absurd reality. The black garbage bags wrapped around their legs are the agent connecting these characters along with their staged presence inside an elevator. The bags are used as an indication that flooding is a threatening reality in their existence. The elevator, a place of movement, is an unwelcoming public space that conveys a sense of uneasiness and that carries it’s own specific references to different dualities associated with up and down (such as heaven and hell; happiness and depression etc...). And the rest of the gear they are wearing are different articles of protection that seem absurd when they are in fact not protecting they’re whole bodies. These characters are attempting to form new identities that go beyond the gender binary in a post-apocaliptic world.
My exploration encompasses multiple constructed characters performing for the camera to create a narrative somewhere in between the staged and the authentic to reveal the ever-present angst of being alive in modern society.
What interest me in this exploration is implicit as well as explicit human representations and their implications towards society as a whole.
This series explores different characters in the young adult range that seem to exist in a dystopian reality. Some may have gone through devastating events and are currently surviving in some sort of absurd reality. The black garbage bags wrapped around their legs are the agent connecting these characters along with their staged presence inside an elevator. The bags are used as an indication that flooding is a threatening reality in their existence. The elevator, a place of movement, is an unwelcoming public space that conveys a sense of uneasiness and that carries it’s own specific references to different dualities associated with up and down (such as heaven and hell; happiness and depression etc...). And the rest of the gear they are wearing are different articles of protection that seem absurd when they are in fact not protecting they’re whole bodies. These characters are attempting to form new identities that go beyond the gender binary in a post-apocaliptic world.
My exploration encompasses multiple constructed characters performing for the camera to create a narrative somewhere in between the staged and the authentic to reveal the ever-present angst of being alive in modern society.
What interest me in this exploration is implicit as well as explicit human representations and their implications towards society as a whole.
SUNKEN CHEEKBONES
This work stems from the random retrieval of memories associated to my father. It is an attempt to piece together what is left of him in my mind. Part of it echoes feelings of frustration that have been part of my grieving experience, as an exploration of self-inflicted emotional censorship and seclusion. It is also an effort to represent the active struggle of dodging human contact and communication. When one is faced with personal trauma, similar to the way bears hibernate, humans need time to heal and process events. This area of discussion is explored by visually hiding information on a photographic medium along with other simple editing techniques. The imagery used is inherently personal and intimate to a great extent; it can be read as an internal grieving ritual that attempts to cope with a complete lack of spiritual belief. Some of the aspects of this ceremony are: winter, culturally Mexican imagery, censorship, drug injections in relation to downers, representation of abstract intelligence, pain, and multiple references to terminal illnesses.
This process reflects absurdity -inspired by Samuel Beckett for the most part- on some level since I consider it to be an exclusively human feature. In a sense, absurdity is the only proof of humanity, and art is an ideal vessel for that expression. Some of the symbols presents might not ever be understood by the viewer, which accentuates the loneliness of the outcome. Censoring oneself is sometimes necessary to survive in society, and to endure and avoid pain when there is no space for emotion. This project is a representation of emotional suppression with the faint desire to achieve emotional intelligence. This project hopes to show the magnitude of powerlessness and frustration that comes with an emotional shut down.
This process reflects absurdity -inspired by Samuel Beckett for the most part- on some level since I consider it to be an exclusively human feature. In a sense, absurdity is the only proof of humanity, and art is an ideal vessel for that expression. Some of the symbols presents might not ever be understood by the viewer, which accentuates the loneliness of the outcome. Censoring oneself is sometimes necessary to survive in society, and to endure and avoid pain when there is no space for emotion. This project is a representation of emotional suppression with the faint desire to achieve emotional intelligence. This project hopes to show the magnitude of powerlessness and frustration that comes with an emotional shut down.
MIRRORS
Others as a reflection of one’s self.
These six different characters are manipulated to represent the artist’s feelings and emotions; chosen from a variety of spontaneous portraits, these final one’s united, Mirror, convey the concept that humans exist in society through the eyes of the ones who see them.
In other words: know the people who see you, and you will know who you are.
This contemplates the paradox between the misconception that individuals are certain that they can define themselves, and the impossibility to be completely understood by others.
What is the aim of defining one's self if no one around you agrees that you are who you claim to be?
Are individuals reduced to the definition that others give of them?
These six different characters are manipulated to represent the artist’s feelings and emotions; chosen from a variety of spontaneous portraits, these final one’s united, Mirror, convey the concept that humans exist in society through the eyes of the ones who see them.
In other words: know the people who see you, and you will know who you are.
This contemplates the paradox between the misconception that individuals are certain that they can define themselves, and the impossibility to be completely understood by others.
What is the aim of defining one's self if no one around you agrees that you are who you claim to be?
Are individuals reduced to the definition that others give of them?
YAWN
" I don't want to wake up on my own anymore..."
