We kept on dancing like it didn't matter
by Giannina Urmeneta Ottiker
portfolio winners call 'Urbanautica Institute Awards 2023', 2023
Category: Memories and Traditions
We mostly understand ourselves through endless series of stories told to ourselves by ourselves and by others. These stories become images in our heads. The past comes back to us in repeated flashbacks, it entangles with the present and takes new shapes and textures. Giannina has an urge to understand how the past affects the way we look at things, how it crawls under our skins and marks our bodies.
Giannina shows folded and entangled bodies. Exotic plants and landscapes from far away places. Layered, scratched or apparently damaged black and white pictures, sometimes with a tinge of color. She mixes her pictures with small drawings and texts.
Giannina grew up in Peru, a country that struggled with political unrest, corruption and an unstable economy. Memories of tanks rolling down the dark streets at night, military coups, dictatorships and terrorism where some of the stories and images of her past. These memories are entangled with wonderful summer days and the warmth of southern people. In this huge country where saints and shamans dance together, where different skin colors try to cohabit, where people smile and look into your eyes, people keep on dancing like it doesn't matter.
also from Urbanautica Institute Awards 2023