Constanza Valderrama
Constanza Valderrama is a Chilean artist based in Patagonia. She was awarded a scholarship by the Chilean National Research Council to study MA in Photography at the Royal College of Art, which she recently completed with distinction. She also holds an MA in Visual Arts from the Universidad de Chile. Her understanding of photography as a material thing has allowed her to explore the material properties with which photographic images intertwine, a process that she refers to as ‘photographic incarnations’. These are processes in which images and materials coalesce. Consequently, her work renders visible that every copy or visualization of a photograph is always unique and unrepeatable, even if its nature is digital.
Through diverse material experimentations, Constanza’s practice aims to expand the limits of photography, not only to question the conventional ways of doing photography but also discussing the idea of reproduction that traditionally links to it.
An ‘economy’ of resources constitutes the second principal axis through which Constanza thinks of photography. Her work displays an articulation of ordinary and low-cost materials, laser prints, low-quality images, and quotidian thematics. These choices allow her to advance a reflective critique of the elitism and ‘high standards’ in which art and photography generally …
Constanza Valderrama is a Chilean artist based in Patagonia. She was awarded a scholarship by the Chilean National Research Council to study MA in Photography at the Royal College of Art, which she recently completed with distinction. She also holds an MA in Visual Arts from the Universidad de Chile. Her understanding of photography as a material thing has allowed her to explore the material properties with which photographic images intertwine, a process that she refers to as ‘photographic incarnations’. These are processes in which images and materials coalesce. Consequently, her work renders visible that every copy or visualization of a photograph is always unique and unrepeatable, even if its nature is digital.
Through diverse material experimentations, Constanza’s practice aims to expand the limits of photography, not only to question the conventional ways of doing photography but also discussing the idea of reproduction that traditionally links to it.
An ‘economy’ of resources constitutes the second principal axis through which Constanza thinks of photography. Her work displays an articulation of ordinary and low-cost materials, laser prints, low-quality images, and quotidian thematics. These choices allow her to advance a reflective critique of the elitism and ‘high standards’ in which art and photography generally embed. The difficulties of affording expensive materials and resources also highlight her condition as a ‘third-world’ female artists working in a world elite artistic context.
Constanza’s work has been displayed at TJ Boulting Gallery (London), Saatchi Gallery (London), FUMI Gallery (London) Contemporary Art Museum (Santiago), Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery (London), among others.
Courtesy of Open Doors Gallery
