Thesis
Memorias vulnerables
University of Iowa
Master of Fine Arts (MFA), University of Iowa
Spring 2022
DOI: 10.17077/etd.006387
Abstract
Through highly rendered and detailed drawings and prints, I create pieces that reference memory, mortality, identity, and their influence on self-perception. My work is a careful construction of visual alterations and reinterpretations of Latinx traditions, experiences, and symbols of my formative years. I attempt to give viewers a snapshot of an interiority constantly striving to find equilibrium, one that seeks to balance opposing Western/American and LatinX values and find internal stability.
In these interior spaces, skeleton and human figures interact with one another to provide insight into the coexistence of varying facets of self-perception and values. Each interaction, placement of a body and object in their possession, compounds and presents a deeper narrative upon discovery that is not fixed but open for interpretation. Through excess visual information, I aim to capture a fragment of the complexity of the human condition through an examination of my own.
As I move toward my MFA thesis exhibition, I continue to examine my experiences and perspective and attempt to present them in a universal manner. I am interested in creating a sense of the viewer looking into an intimate but vulnerable headspace. Visually, this body of work uses and focuses on childhood imagery and events as access points to address facets and aspects of life that would rather be cast aside or ignored. These pieces reference memory through content and process as well. Family photographs are used as reference material and reconstructed to echo the nostalgia and structural fragility often associated with memory. Through the use of the spotlight in my images, I am shedding light on several themes: coping mechanisms, anxieties over the unknowns, harkening on decisions made, and reflections on change and their relation to self-perception.
By presenting intimate and vulnerable moments in a constructed environment, I stage an uncomfortable but relatable tension. I am interested in using this awkward tension to share ambiguous narratives that attempt to reconcile opposing views and ideas of self-perception examined through a bifocal lens of my formative American and Latinx values. This visual journal of prints and drawings will be compiled in an exhibition at the Levitt Gallery at the University of Iowa in early April.
This written document expands on the exhibition "Memorias Vulnerables" by directly addressing the influences and content of the artworks in the show.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Memorias vulnerables
- Creators
- Juan Sebastian Correa Cardozo
- Contributors
- Terry Conrad (Advisor)Heather Parrish (Committee Member)Rachel Williams (Committee Member)Rachel Cox (Committee Member)
- Resource Type
- Thesis
- Degree Awarded
- Master of Fine Arts (MFA), University of Iowa
- Degree in
- Art
- Date degree season
- Spring 2022
- DOI
- 10.17077/etd.006387
- Publisher
- University of Iowa
- Number of pages
- viii, 40 pages
- Copyright
- Copyright 2022 Juan Sebastian Correa Cardozo
- Language
- English
- Description illustrations
- illustrations (some color)
- Description bibliographic
- Includes bibliographical references (page 40).
- Public Abstract (ETD)
- Through highly rendered and detailed drawings and prints, I create pieces that reference memory, mortality, identity, and their influence on self-perception. My work is a careful construction of visual alterations and reinterpretations of Latinx traditions, experiences, and symbols of my formative years. I attempt to give viewers a snapshot of an interiority constantly striving to find equilibrium, one that seeks to balance opposing Western/American and Latinx values and find internal stability. In these interior spaces, skeleton and human figures interact with one another to provide insight into the coexistence of varying facets of self-perception and values. Each interaction, placement of a body and object in their possession, compounds and presents a deeper narrative upon discovery that is not fixed but open for interpretation. Through excess visual information, I aim to capture a fragment of the complexity of the human condition through an examination of my own. By presenting intimate and vulnerable moments in a constructed environment, I stage an uncomfortable but relatable tension. I am interested in using this awkward tension to share ambiguous narratives that attempt to reconcile opposing views and ideas of self-perception examined through a bifocal lens of my formative American and Latinx values. This visual journal of prints and drawings will be compiled in an exhibition at the Levitt Gallery at the University of Iowa in early April.
- Academic Unit
- School of Art, Art History, and Design
- Record Identifier
- 9984271153202771
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