Photo London Somerset House 11-14 MAY 2023 BOOTH D1
Strength, Beauty and fragility.
What it means to be a woman through the eyes of three exceptional female artists.
Spanish Contemporary Art gallery Isolina Arbulu is proud to announce its first participation in the prestigious PHOTO LONDON ART FAIR. The gallery will showcase the work of three talented female photographers from different nationalities who explore what it means to be a woman in today’s political and cultural context. The fair will take place at the Somerset House in London from 11th to 14th of May 2023.
Chilean video and photo artist Magdalena Correa, Colombian photographer Adriana Duque and Mexican/ Spanish photographer Angélica Arbulu use their images to o raise awareness, challenge stereotypes, and inspire change.
Magdalena Correa: Specializes in photographic and video research projects in isolated and extreme territories inhabited by humans. For this edition of Photo London, Correa presents works from her recent collection "Suiti", a small Latvian community living in isolation in a Lutheran-majority territory. Suiti is a form of Catholic culture recognised as intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO. The life of the Suiti revolves around strict customs and rituals that keep their culture alive, including drone singing performed only by the women. Suiti women were initially required to wear a special uniform, with wide skirts of bright red, green and blue, to better distinguish Catholics from Protestants. These skirts have become an important element of their identity. Magdalena beautifully captures the uniqueness of these details that keep a struggling culture alive. Magdalena’s work features in some of the world’s top public and private collections.
Adriana Duque: Her photographic images allude to tableux traditions that include the backdrops used by nineteenth century commercial portraitists. Adriana’s photographs play with the idea of endless childhood, complemented by elements borrowed from rural contexts. The artist has developed the use of photographic scenes that address feminine adolescent identity using borderline narratives. In her latest project, presented at Photo London; "All that tries to reveal itself", Duque's famous princesses abandon their sumptuous golden crowns to adorn themselves with subtle plant-inspired membranes covered in light and translucent fabrics that shelter small and fragile fragments of a still-living nature. A fabric of energy that connects them and also isolates them; they both protect and trap the fragility of women’s existence.
Angélica Arbulú: Her work reflects on the formation and loss of identity through everyday rituals that often go unnoticed. Her choice of subjects is heavily influenced by her experiences as a woman, mother and perennial migrant. The result is a series of intimate portraits that invite us to take pause and put ourselves in the shoes of the “other”. At Photo London, Angelica presents the series Sine Personæ. The word person comes from the latin Personæ, which means mask. The title reflects the photographer’s intent to unmask her subjects’ true essence. Angélica’s work reflects on the commoditization of women’s bodies and its use in advertising, where they are often dehumanized and presented as parts rather than a whole. She changes the hierarchical dynamic between photographer and subject by allowing the subject to participate in how they are represented and inviting them to use their own bodies as canvas and literally have the last word. Angelica’s viewpoint is personal, she photographs them with the eyes of a mother, fascinated by this almost magical transformation, searching for that mythological being who is no longer a child but not yet an adult. She sees in all of them the same larva struggling to define its adult form, piece by piece, with beauty and beauty standards weighing heavily in that process.
We are thrilled to have this opportunity to present the work of these three exceptional artists, who bring a fresh perspective to the way we see and understand women. Their images are a testament to the power of photography.
For further information please contact:
Isolina Arbulu | galeria@isolinaarbulu.com | +34 658852228
Strength, Beauty and fragility.
What it means to be a woman through the eyes of three exceptional female artists.
Spanish Contemporary Art gallery Isolina Arbulu is proud to announce its first participation in the prestigious PHOTO LONDON ART FAIR. The gallery will showcase the work of three talented female photographers from different nationalities who explore what it means to be a woman in today’s political and cultural context. The fair will take place at the Somerset House in London from 11th to 14th of May 2023.
Chilean video and photo artist Magdalena Correa, Colombian photographer Adriana Duque and Mexican/ Spanish photographer Angélica Arbulu use their images to o raise awareness, challenge stereotypes, and inspire change.
Magdalena Correa: Specializes in photographic and video research projects in isolated and extreme territories inhabited by humans. For this edition of Photo London, Correa presents works from her recent collection "Suiti", a small Latvian community living in isolation in a Lutheran-majority territory. Suiti is a form of Catholic culture recognised as intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO. The life of the Suiti revolves around strict customs and rituals that keep their culture alive, including drone singing performed only by the women. Suiti women were initially required to wear a special uniform, with wide skirts of bright red, green and blue, to better distinguish Catholics from Protestants. These skirts have become an important element of their identity. Magdalena beautifully captures the uniqueness of these details that keep a struggling culture alive. Magdalena’s work features in some of the world’s top public and private collections.
Adriana Duque: Her photographic images allude to tableux traditions that include the backdrops used by nineteenth century commercial portraitists. Adriana’s photographs play with the idea of endless childhood, complemented by elements borrowed from rural contexts. The artist has developed the use of photographic scenes that address feminine adolescent identity using borderline narratives. In her latest project, presented at Photo London; "All that tries to reveal itself", Duque's famous princesses abandon their sumptuous golden crowns to adorn themselves with subtle plant-inspired membranes covered in light and translucent fabrics that shelter small and fragile fragments of a still-living nature. A fabric of energy that connects them and also isolates them; they both protect and trap the fragility of women’s existence.
Angélica Arbulú: Her work reflects on the formation and loss of identity through everyday rituals that often go unnoticed. Her choice of subjects is heavily influenced by her experiences as a woman, mother and perennial migrant. The result is a series of intimate portraits that invite us to take pause and put ourselves in the shoes of the “other”. At Photo London, Angelica presents the series Sine Personæ. The word person comes from the latin Personæ, which means mask. The title reflects the photographer’s intent to unmask her subjects’ true essence. Angélica’s work reflects on the commoditization of women’s bodies and its use in advertising, where they are often dehumanized and presented as parts rather than a whole. She changes the hierarchical dynamic between photographer and subject by allowing the subject to participate in how they are represented and inviting them to use their own bodies as canvas and literally have the last word. Angelica’s viewpoint is personal, she photographs them with the eyes of a mother, fascinated by this almost magical transformation, searching for that mythological being who is no longer a child but not yet an adult. She sees in all of them the same larva struggling to define its adult form, piece by piece, with beauty and beauty standards weighing heavily in that process.
We are thrilled to have this opportunity to present the work of these three exceptional artists, who bring a fresh perspective to the way we see and understand women. Their images are a testament to the power of photography.
For further information please contact:
Isolina Arbulu | galeria@isolinaarbulu.com | +34 658852228
