Carmela GARCIA's work is underpinned by two overriding concerns: the need to rethink the very notion of the world, and the need to change the world. To that end, she uses the perspective of genre as a realm from which to advocate a different view of “the feminine” in the world (in the real world, and in the world of representation), as well as a means of projecting the need for another future.
García reassesses the construction of history and proposes a new narrative slant for some of the stories around which collective consciousness has been forged. The strategies employed by her are the fictional tale, through the recreation of scenarios, the creation of metafictional genealogies, and appropriation and representation as a form for visibilisation.
Her stories, as well as her metafictional genealogies, are developed as elements that engender identity and vehicles for narratives in which life is rendered bearable (queer projections), as well as to highlight and assert the multiplicity of identity. Her chosen models are subjects far removed from accepted norm, whose identities she then presents as a more or less interiorized projection of themselves, inherently malleable, thereby calling into question what is commonly held as real and considered as socially and culturally intelligible. To that end, García focuses on spaces, their distribution, and the use made of them; spaces which, duly endowed with gender, bring the body -a real, clearly defined body- face to face with social space. She questions and destabilizes the foundations of hegemonic perception, re-appropriating the spaces where the bodies are etched.
It is important to re-contextualize her photographic work, through her collections of anonymous photographs of women. These images are made to function as enigmatic artefacts, enabling the subjective to take the place of the supposedly objective. This dislocation allows her to appropriate a huge body of anonymous work, from a mega-archive, to establish a point of departure from which to carry on constructing her own creative universe.
For this project, she has chosen the portrait of August Sander, after Eva Lootz. García has, for some time now, been creating an archive of artistic portraits, done by her: Les artistes. Blanca Gracia. Pintora. Madrid 2014 is one of them. As part of this palimpsest, she includes it within this other massive corpus created by fellow artists, Alonso y Marful.
Garcia began her project in the mid-90s, using mainly photography, though she has also employed other means of expression, such as video, installations, collages, collections of images…
Her work has been exhibited at museums in Spain (Reina Sofía; CAAM; MUSAC; etc.), USA (PS1/MoMA), Japan (MOT, Kanazawa Museum), Paris, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, etc. Her work can also be found in national and international collections, public and private.
Her best known photography and interdisciplinary projects are: Chicas, deseos y ficción; Try to be a boy Try to be a girl; Mentiras; Planeta Ella; Paraísos; I want to be; Ofelias; Escenarios; La Conspiración de las Pintoras Portuguesas; No pisar el césped or Au bord de mer.
Carmela García lives and works in Madrid (Spain).
García reassesses the construction of history and proposes a new narrative slant for some of the stories around which collective consciousness has been forged. The strategies employed by her are the fictional tale, through the recreation of scenarios, the creation of metafictional genealogies, and appropriation and representation as a form for visibilisation.
Her stories, as well as her metafictional genealogies, are developed as elements that engender identity and vehicles for narratives in which life is rendered bearable (queer projections), as well as to highlight and assert the multiplicity of identity. Her chosen models are subjects far removed from accepted norm, whose identities she then presents as a more or less interiorized projection of themselves, inherently malleable, thereby calling into question what is commonly held as real and considered as socially and culturally intelligible. To that end, García focuses on spaces, their distribution, and the use made of them; spaces which, duly endowed with gender, bring the body -a real, clearly defined body- face to face with social space. She questions and destabilizes the foundations of hegemonic perception, re-appropriating the spaces where the bodies are etched.
It is important to re-contextualize her photographic work, through her collections of anonymous photographs of women. These images are made to function as enigmatic artefacts, enabling the subjective to take the place of the supposedly objective. This dislocation allows her to appropriate a huge body of anonymous work, from a mega-archive, to establish a point of departure from which to carry on constructing her own creative universe.
For this project, she has chosen the portrait of August Sander, after Eva Lootz. García has, for some time now, been creating an archive of artistic portraits, done by her: Les artistes. Blanca Gracia. Pintora. Madrid 2014 is one of them. As part of this palimpsest, she includes it within this other massive corpus created by fellow artists, Alonso y Marful.
Garcia began her project in the mid-90s, using mainly photography, though she has also employed other means of expression, such as video, installations, collages, collections of images…
Her work has been exhibited at museums in Spain (Reina Sofía; CAAM; MUSAC; etc.), USA (PS1/MoMA), Japan (MOT, Kanazawa Museum), Paris, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, etc. Her work can also be found in national and international collections, public and private.
Her best known photography and interdisciplinary projects are: Chicas, deseos y ficción; Try to be a boy Try to be a girl; Mentiras; Planeta Ella; Paraísos; I want to be; Ofelias; Escenarios; La Conspiración de las Pintoras Portuguesas; No pisar el césped or Au bord de mer.
Carmela García lives and works in Madrid (Spain).