How did you become a photographer? Would you define yourself as a one?
Photography came to me as a present; my parents gave me an Instamatic – a point-and-shoot camera – when I turned 10. I used it occasionally to photograph holiday trips and family events. When my camera stopped working, two years after my first picture, I dismantled it to find out what was inside, attempting to discover how those images were created. Such curiosity about photography has stayed with me ever since.
However, the true affair with photography began some years later, when I left my hometown and moved to Rosario City to start University. In a whole new context, I started to use photography as a tool to explore both a new place and a new self. Soon what had been an amateur engagement with photographic practice developed into a deep commitment, which in turn was an opening door to art. I have never been torn between being an artist and being a photographer. I see myself as a visual artist working with photography.
What drives you as a photographer?
The subject of my work is photography itself. I investigate its materials and practices, I examine its history and question its present. I explore its limits and consider its vague territories. In recent years, I have been producing work which deals with possible encounters of analogic and digital paradigms.
Do you think there is such a thing as a ‘woman’s gaze’ in photography? Is this something you can relate to?
There is no easy answer to that question. I believe that categories are tools we can use to think about a body of work. In this sense, “woman’s gaze” could be a valuable concept to approach documentary, narrative photography made by women, especially when dealing with representation of women in a patriarchal society.
Having said that, I believe the concept is at least problematic: What is the woman’s gaze? Can we avoid generalization in trying to define it? Is it possible to outline it without falling into a stereotype that may undermine quality? I would like to put a stop to the tyranny of the gaze. The whole body is engaged in the creation of a piece of art. The pre-eminence of the gaze over other senses is something I would also question.
I proclaim feminism in my life, I activate feminism in my artistic practice (as a teacher, as a part of the feminist collective Camarada, etc.) but I don’t demand it to be shown in my art. That probably has to do with the fact that my work is conceptual and frequently non-representational. When forms are abstract, I find it difficult to draw on to the concept of “woman’s gaze”.
Has being a woman influenced your work as an artist in any way?
A good number of stats and thousands of women’s life stories give account of the difficulties faced by women to build a career in the art world. Recognition of the work developed by women artists has historically been limited and insufficient —fortunately this has started to change in some parts of the world.
However, I should note that my personal experience was different from those most women had. My case is the exception that confirms the rule. From the beginning of my career, most of the time I felt easily admitted in art projects, exhibitions, and grants. If I had to elucidate this unusual situation I would say that back in the 90’s the domestic art world was undergoing major changes, opening up to new actors and disciplines that had been left aside until that moment. I had three nice things to offer then: I was a young woman when most recognized artists were adult men, I was working with photography when the medium had just started to be considered by contemporary art museums and galleries, and I didn’t live in Buenos Aires when the Argentine art scene started to make some room for artists from the provinces.
Do you live off your art?
No, I don’t. I mainly make my living by working as a teacher at Escuela Musto, a public art school.
Which authors have inspired you? Are there any women photographers among them?
The artists who inspire me are generally people I know, usually friends, frequently women. What moves me above all is not just their work, but the processes that make it happen: I am moved by the way they deal with difficulties, face problems, handle unaffordable budgets, insist on their ideas, keep their dreams alive.
A very short list of inspiring women working with photography must include Laura Glusman, Claudia del Río, Rosana Schoijett and my partners in Camarada María Crosetti, Cecilia Lenardón, Gabriela Muzzio and Paulina Scheitlin.
