Saturday, October 25, 2008
Cuando dejé mi propio país, mi familia, mi lengua y cultura también dejé atrás algo de mi misma. Al aprender a vivir como inmigrante en un lugar nuevo para mi, encontré que mi identidad estaba quebrada. Cada día la estoy rehaciendo. Como ocurre con los edificios arruinados, hay capas de pintura vieja que hay que quitar. Lo que yace debajo es a la vez antiestético y bello. Al rehacerme yo misma acepto estos componentes viejos y añado otros nuevos provenientes de la cultura donde ahora resido. Creo que cada inmigrante, provenga de donde provenga, puede identificarse con este proceso a la vez doloroso y emocionante. Esta colección de obras ilustra mi experiencia aquí en Algeciras y está basada en las cosas que he visto y las personas que he conocido, desde la perspectiva de una extranjera.
Exhibit - October 2008 "Perdido & Encontrado"/ "Lost & Found"
This body of work is all about the things we leave behind and the things we gain when we leave our home. Learning new languages and adapting to new cultures often leaves you stripped bear, wondering who you are. All immigrants must feel this. So, these pieces speak of the beauty in the suffering, my own and others. Peeling off layers of yourself to find the story is often painful. But it also reveals who you are. At the end of it all, we rely on God to tell us who we are, not success, language proficiency, friends or lack thereof. He ultimately tells us we are beautiful, that we are loved, that we matter.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Traditional Photography/ Fotografia Tradicional
These two black and white photographs express the conflict of being caught between two worlds. Self Portrait with Necklace was taken shortly after returning from 2 years in North Africa. Reverse culture shock. Feeling trapped. Suffering alone. Feeling that no one understood. It is also a personal take on the paintings and life of Frida Khalo, who also understood the conflict of living two lives--one to the world and one to yourself. Two Faces illustrates this concept: the face that many see day to day is never really the true one. When you live in a different culture and communicate in a second language, it is a struggle for others to see really who you are.
Libros Transformados
Last spring, I joined a group of artists in facilitating a workshop for women in my city. We took old, used books and transformed them into our own personal visual diary. We told our stories. We each looked deep inside, expressed the beauty and the suffering with color and form and texture, and shared it with each other. The following photos are pages from my life.
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