In her work, Giannina Urmeneta Ottiker investigates how the past gets under our skin and marks our daily lives and bodies. Layered and seemingly damaged black-and-white images with a touch of colour seek a balance between silence and the aftermath of the past. Body gestures subtly communicate with images of exotic plants and landscapes. Large diptychs and triptychs draw us into a black-and-white world of textures.
Existing between cultures, languages and identities, the artist moves in that in-between space. The in-between space becomes not only a place of personal identity but a creative methodology.
Giannina grew up in Peru, a country that has struggled and continues to struggle with political unrest, corruption, and an unstable economy. Memories of tanks driving through dark streets, military coups and terrorism were some of the stories and images from her past. In this vast country where saints and shamans dance together, where people of different skin colours try to live together, people keep dancing as if it doesn't matter.
