Alejandra Laviada

Alejandra Laviada

Broken and Photo Sculptures

September 5 - 29, 2013

Artist Alejandra Laviada's two series, Broken and Photo Sculptures, bridge the gap between the artistic disciplines of sculpture and photography, while simultaneously documenting a city constantly in transition. For each project she undertakes, Laviada sets up a temporary studio in an abandoned site in Mexico City that has been slated for demolition or redevelopment. She then creates structural and sculptural interventions within these spaces using only the materials and objects she encounters. By capturing the vibrant colors and visceral textures of these environments on film, Laviada moves ephemeral objects and formations from the three-dimensional world into that of two dimensions, ultimately breathing new life into forgotten places with histories that will soon disappear.

"I'm interested in altering our perception of reality; of being able to assign a new function to these mundane and ordinary objects and transform them into something else entirely. I see my photographic process as a sort of urban archeology, where each object reveals fractions of the history and function of the site, and of the people who inhabited it. Each object develops and acquires its own personality through the passage of time."

Alejandra Laviada lives and works in Mexico City and is a member of the international photography collective, Piece of Cake (POC). She received her BFA from the Rhode Island of Design and subsequently completed her MFA in photography from the School of Visual Arts in New York. Her photographs are currently housed in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and Centro de la Imagen, México, and she has exhibited solo shows in New York, Paris, Madrid, Mexico City, and Guatemala City. In addition, Laviada's work has been published in The New York Times Magazine, T Magazine, American Photo, and Modern Painters, among others. In 2010, Laviada won first place in Mexico's Photography Biennial, and in 2009 was awarded Photo España's Descubrimientos Prize for her Photo Sculpture series. She is a recipient of a FONCA Young Creators grant for 2012-2013.