Portrait of Maria Martinez-Casales
Tasia
Andy, homebuilder
Dr. Fisher
Portrait of Blackbird Wentzel-Fisher
Portrait of Fuchsia Matilda
Magnificent Indian Peacock
Great green macaw
Iowa
The portrait. I would like to offer a personal interpretation of the meanings of such a rich concept through the usage of the photographic medium. I would also like to invite to the exploration of entities and identities from diverse and complementary perspectives. What is a portrait? Generally, this term immediately motivates thinking about a person as the subject. Nevertheless, it’s not unusual to find expressions like “a portrait of contemporary society“, “a portrait of the land“ or relatively new terms like “a dreamscape“. Perhaps what all of these uses of the term share is that the subject, a human entity, a living organism, an external or internal space, is humanized and various aspects of its identity are represented through the eyes and hands of the artist.
Naturally, the question that follows would be what comprises the identity of an entity, what is it essential in it? I invite you to reflect on the identities of people, living beings, external spaces and internal worlds. I use photography as a powerful medium to this end. Photography allows us to freeze or condense time and to warp space. It can serve as a window to other realities and even as a mirror reflecting back to us qualities that we might not even be aware of. Through photography I seek to propose portraits of various entities, thus revealing aspects of them and inviting to experience them in novel ways.
Ultimately, the categories that I explore all form part of the identity of an entity. For instance, the self image, that of family, friends, animals, the space that one inhabits and the internal worlds are all components of the identity of the artist. Likewise, the inhabitants of a space, human or animal, and their ideas, their dreams and their desires transform and mold the space itself, thus becoming part of its identity. Therefore, not one but multiple scenes start to compose a complete portrait of an entity. Through my work you'll see brushstrokes of my own identity and the way I see the world. Equally, I hope to motivate in readers a novel reflection on their own identities and the identities of people, living beings and the physical and metaphysical spaces in which they dwell. Have a wonderful journey!
