Next to Myself
Liliana Guzmán
Area: Photography
Liliana Guzmán
Thesis Statement
My current artwork and research, "Next to Myself: Visualizing the Multiple Layers of the Latinx Female Experience and Body", combines painting and photography to reflect upon the formation of the self as an individual with social and ethnic components. Photographic elements ground the body in a concrete physical space while paint emphasizes what the mind perceives. Stemming from my background as a bicultural Colombian-American woman, this series addresses the sociocultural dualities of my exposure to different conceptions of the Latinx female body. In private family spaces as well as in religious social environments such as church or school, the body is either celebrated or restricted. The manifestation of cultural and personal dualities is one of the main threads expressed throughout this artwork.
Each piece is a culmination of layers; the photographic print, gouache paint, charcoal, and other mark-making objects. The meaning and influence of touch and emotional performance (masks) are both prominent in my artwork. This series reinforces touch, with hands clasping, skin touching, and arms interlocked. The reoccurring use of the mask obscures the face and acts as a mechanism to compel the viewer to identify with the woman. The yellow circles are derived from the religious iconography of the halo, which is meant to signify light, divinity, and a distinct separation between the holy and the laymen and women. Not only am I interested in touch as a formative and intimate experience, but how touch plays an integral role in establishing relationships with oneself and with others. "Next to Myself" emphasizes how ethnicity, gender, and memory continuously build upon the many layers that make up who you are.