Shifting Boundaries
DETAILS
May 6, 2020
A video exercise by Sara Santamaria
As an immigrant who has dived into different cultures, my practice explores the invisible boundaries of contemporary hybrid identities from an outsider perspective. I create installations that use wire mesh sculptures, line delimitation, and the concept of spacial division to underline the production, the impact, and the potential crossing of social, economic, and political boundaries.
The “Shifting Boundaries” video is an activity/exercise that I perform as part of my process to explore the work from a different perspective. I edit the footage taken from the mesh sculptural installations to produce an altered version of the work, and to translate the subject from one language to another.
The movement in the work allows for a subtle optical illusion where the sculpture mutates between 2D and 3D planes, between the physical object and the digital rendering. These transactions between worlds in motion insist on the idea of communicating across different languages and existing simultaneously in between distant realities and places.
The semi-transparent quality of the wire mesh sculptures carries a confusing presence revealing issues of alienation as a psychological condition of the global subject. Elements of constant movement, a strong sense of duplicity, and sharp spatial boundaries aim to a visual a metaphor of the invisible boundaries of cross-cultural identities.
About the Artist
Sara Santamaria is a multidisciplinary visual artist from Madrid. While in Spain, she earned an Associate Degree in International Relations from (IES) Africa, and a minor in Art and Design from Escuela de Arte N2. Seeking to amplify her perspectives as well as her network, she decided to travel abroad to experience the world as a form of education. Between 2009-2013, she participated in multiple work and travel experiences, art residencies, internships and assistantships across England, France, and Canada.
She came to Atlanta in 2014 where she earned a BFA in Fine Arts with a concentration in sculpture and ceramics at Georgia State University. She is a 2015-16 Hugely Artist Fellowship recipient and a 2017-2019 resident artist for The Creatives Program. In 2015 she co-founded Brutal Studio, an all-lady run design and build studio in Atlanta. Her work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions at MOCA GA, MINT Gallery, Atlanta international Airport, Atlanta City Council, Woodruff Park, Showerhause Gallery, Swan Coach House Gallery, and in publications such as AJC, NPR, and ArtsAtl.
