General Joan Prim i Prats

2013 - Photography (Photography)

40 x 160 cm and 40 x 40 cm

Daniela Ortiz

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Previously, Ortiz produced a series of photographs related to her research on the position of ‘service architecture’, the vital space given to domestic servants in the modernist architectural houses of South American upper class families. Following the same formal principal, she has developed a new series called Estat nacio . This work presents a critical point of view on the construction of a national sovereignty through speeches and laws concerning people who are not considered as citizens according to immigration legislation and the regulations affecting immigrants’ rights and freedom. The project presents an analysis of historical figures related to colonialism, still visible in the public spaces of Barcelona, mainly through monumental statues of military figures, politicians or industrial figures. The series is accompanied by images of institutions that financed and collaborated in colonialism such as the Bank of Barcelona or the Overseas Hispanic Society. A text contextualizes each image and serves as a historical reference for each figure or institution. This is a critical answer to speeches referring to the idea of a Nation-State characterized by a territory, a precise population with a common language and culture.

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In order to reveal and critique hegemonic structures of power, Daniela Ortiz constructs visual narratives that examine concepts such as nationality, racialization, and social class. Ortiz’s work is always formally evolving, while maintaining a grassroot activist commitment. Her recent projects and research take up colonialism as it relates to European migratory control systems and legal structures that incite and perpetuate violence against racialized communities. Her artistic practice has turned to focus more on material and manual work, developing art pieces in ceramic, collage, and in formats such as children books in order to distinguish her work from eurocentric conceptual art aesthetics. She has also developed projects about the Peruvian upper class and its exploitative relationship with domestic workers.

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Colors:

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• monument.n.02
• immigration.n.01
• colonialism.n.01
• inequality.n.01
• sovereignty.n.03
• institution.n.01