Claudia Martínez Garay (Grimm, Stand IN11)
b. 1983, Ayacucho, Peru; lives and works between Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and Lima, Peru
b. 1983, Ayacucho, Peru; lives and works between Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and Lima, Peru
Presenting at Frieze London 2022 as part of Indra's Net, curated by Sandhini Poddar
An avid visitor to ethnological museums in Germany and The Netherlands, artist Claudia Martínez Garay is deeply invested in mnemonic nature of objects and their attendant oral histories and narratives. Martínez Garay says of her intense, research-based practice, “my art speculates on the blank or erased spaces left by colonialism and conflict and is an invitation for discussion.”
Unearthing the history of Pre-Columbian civilisations in Peru and looking to their material cultures and aesthetics for knowledge and inspiration, the artist reconnects with her Andean heritage. She thinks of her artworks as “metaphors for memory, justice and equality”. El Creador (The Creator), 2019 is inspired by the Moche Civilisation (100-750 CE) in northern Peru. It consists of metal printed drawings of native Andean plants and ceramic replicas of Mochina ceramics held in European museums. For Martínez Garay, these ceramics are testaments to ancient technologies and cosmovision. “I’m trying to find meaning”, she says, “through the multiple temporalities and syncretism within Andean cultures.”
Main image: Claudia Martínez Garay, Muy blanco para indio y muy poco para blanco / Too white for a cholo, not enough for a white man, 2020. Clay painting installation. Courtesy of the Artist and GRIMM, Amsterdam | New York | London. Photo credit: Stefan Stark
