During her residency at MoHA, Fabiola Menchelli experimented with creating lumen prints under the Austin sun. Taking the tarot card of The Hermit as the central point of inspiration, her geometrical abstractions unfold its symbolism. It is said that the Hermit holds in his lamp the light that Prometheus stole from the Olympian Gods. The lamp represents the individual insight of the mystic, a golden flame that dispels chaos and darkness. The Hermit is surrounded by its own shadow, illuminated by his own light, he reminds us that life is a process not a problem, Tao is a journey not a goal.
To create these images she used silver gelatin paper and exposed it under the sun. Masking the paper and using multiple exposures to create the different shades of color. The color of the prints is a product of the process, this is what the paper turns into when exposed to the sun. However there is a light that emanates from this set of colors that relates to the sun, the small light of a candle and the inspiration that comes from fire.
FABIOLA MENCHELLI
Mexico City, Mexico 1983
Lives and works in Mexico City
Fabiola Menchelli’s work investigates essential ideas about photography through the language of abstraction. Using light as raw material, her work explores photography as a poetic space, using a wide variety of contemporary strategies and experimental techniques ranging from analog to digital practices. From phenomenology to astronomy, her work seeks to expand the meaning of observing, to expand our perception beyond the limits of our own body in the infinite hopeful attempt to understand our existence.
She studied an MFA in Photography and Visual Arts at Massachusetts College of Art and Design and a BFA in Computer-Mediated Arts. Her most recent shows include Parallax at Proxyco Gallery (New York City), Arróniz Arte Contemporáneo (Mexico City), Marshall Contemporary (Los Angeles), Black Box Projects (London), Fundacion MARSO (Mexico City), Casa Wabi (Mexico City), Blain Southern Gallery (London), PROXYCO Gallery (New York City), Brett W. Schütz Gallery (Mexico City), Paris Photo 2018 (Paris), and Photo Dubai (Dubai). She has been invited to distinguished artist residencies such as Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Casa Wabi, Casa Nano and will visit Unlisted Projects in 2021. In 2011 she received the Fulbright – García Robles Fellowship and in 2014 she received the Prize of Acquisition of the XVI Mexican Photography Biennial of the Centro de la Imagen. She recently received the National System of Art Creators FONCA grant in México.
She has taught in recognized institutions such as Reed College in Portland, The University of Cincinnati, The Academy of Visual Arts in Mexico City, at CENTRO University for Design, Film, and Television, at the Adolfo Prieto School for the Arts, Massachusetts College of Art and Design and Universidad Iberoamericana. During the pandemic she developed el Círculo de Crítica de Obra, an online critique program for Latinameican artists. And with the help of our generous sponsors we were able to grant full scholarships to 10 Latinamerican artists for the second edition of the workshop.
fabiolamenchelli.com | @fabiolamenchelli
