Ana Priscila Rodriguez Aranda
Born in Mexico City, 1974.
Resides in The Netherlands since 1998.
Graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Utrecht in 2006 with a specialty in Intermedia and Photography. Has also studies in History and Graphic Design.
Art Concept
My art is born from the need to give a voice to retained memories and moments in life. It began vaguely with the concept of glimpses, in which I gave a space in present time to those lost cherished images once seen and lived. Just a flying ghost of things that were, or things that might have been in the past, which are strong enough to stay present, preserved in our mind, reviving only during our daydreaming or even in our nightmares.
The concept of Time is an essential element within the contents of my work, it is all about memories: a long lost past, lost sadness, lost loves, lost faces, images and sensations that are asking for a physical space in this present world, they are asking for color, shape, texture, taste... they are asking for life. My mission is to provide to this silent memories, a voice and a body, allowing them to become a part of my present, visible world, and therefore, providing them from the opportunity to go on in real time, with a new shape and a new purpose. In my own perception of time and space.
A window of time is a glimpse of existence, a glimpse of a feeling, an emotion, and a glimpse of life after all, in whatever shape it comes. The materials I use can be very diverse, in collages it becomes very important to have access to original prints and documents, which have been left behind by others in time.
With mixed media photographs I use my own prints, working them by using a variety of techniques and mediums, until they lose their contextual shape, becoming in such way only ghosts from the recollection I am intent to materialize.
I started with the classical forms of drawing and painting. However soon I discovered the magic of the old photographs left behind in flee markets, which I started collecting more than a decade ago. There is such a load of feeling and history contained in those images, so many lives passed and happened through them. They soon became my most important source of inspiration and material.
My collage work uses my own photography as well as old found material, it layers many different kind of papers. It is important for me to create texture and a sense of "tangibility" to it. Like small windows to a small story. The result of that story is up to the viewer, it is like filling in the lines but through their experience and sensations.
I see my work as a form of translation from the original memory and the sensations which are left behind into a visual language.
