Andrea Martínez (b. Brazil, 1982) is a mexican photo based artist living and working in Mexico City.
Her practice focuses on working with the basics of photography: using light as an idea, as matter and material. This idea has taken a main role in her work, both conceptually and technically. In terms of representation, she is consistently wandering through out landscapes and portraits, two traditional genres she uses as anchors from which to address other ideas and forms of representation such as abstraction.
She holds a BA in Visual Arts from Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado “La Esmeralda” (2002-07) with a major in photography. In addition she studied the Photography Seminar at Centro de la Imagen, in Mexico City as well.
Her work has been part of several exhibitions in Mexico and abroad. She has been grant holder of the Young Creators Grant from FONCA National Endowment for the Arts program in Mexico in two occasions (2015-16 and 2017-18) and has been invited to be artist in residence at The Banff Centre in Canada (2013), the AIR Fiskars Program in Finland (2015).
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‘Sundial’ is part of an ongoing photographic investigation titled Notes on Light and Landscape, an exploration of the effects of light both material and physical.
Starting from the material study of light as a phenomenon that effects photosensitive material that produces a chemical reaction resulting in a photograph, Notes on Light and Landscape also looks at the physical effects of light with the body. As material, light creates physiological and psychological effects that cause different reactions in how individuals interact with sources of light, including the sun.
While at Unlisted Projects Residency at the Museum of Human Achievement I played with light and the summer sun in Austin. Each individual reacts different to the sun and its intensity. Through a small series of portraits I documented how four individuals interacted with direct sunlight. The summer sun is also a direct source to track the movement and passage of time. To replicate that phenomenon, and based on the idea of the Zenith, I created an artificial sundial inside the studio to help measure my time working. Together these ideas and approaches create a dialog between my personal experience and the physical incision that the summer sun creates.
This projects was made possible through the generous support of Texas State University with the help of Barry Stone, Megan Roche and would not have been possible without Rebecca Marino.
cargocollective.com/andmartinez | and-martinez.tumblr.com | @arenititas
