Woman body

Anyone that knows me well would know that I have a passion and a sincere inquiry on women issues. Even the most subtle intention that I put in my work has a connection that is like a rhizome  always connecting to the core of my preoccupations.

This series explores the world of women as I see it, the stories that are associated with our bodies. Our bodies are this territory where politics take place sometimes because of us sometimes inflicted on us.This is also a reaction on how women are portrayed in the media;the over sexualizacion and objectification without stopping to think about other issues that surround women's bodies. Our bodies belong to us yet we have to surrender them to external forces in such an action we become disembodied.

internal maps

Internal maps and journey. This piece speaks about my internal journey that has brought me where I am today. We all travel with our luggage and our baggage. The bits that brought us to our present self. in this piece I display all my diaries and personal letters received over the years in my life starting in 1987.

Stretched like a shoe

When Visited Valerie Artzen http://valeriesarttalk.blogspot.com/ studio a month ago I was immediately intrigued to one of her objects in her studio; an antique Shoe stretcher. I was a piece that evoked feelings that were not yet defined, attracted or repelled?  I could not stop thinking of the mechanical, the patriarchal and production.
She kindly lent it to me and the shoe stretcher was the inspiration for these pieces. After the art pieces evolved, I started to reflect on this object and how I associated with the mechanical pieces  used by gynecologists. Intermediately I started to think about the frustrations felt with those visits. Any woman that has had a certain dose of body invasion either in regular doctor visits or else can testify to the uneasy feelings. We become a petri dish for experiments sometimes, a land that is colonized by invasive entities. By analyzing the object of our fear we can take its power away and feel less threatened by it. I guess that I what I attempted to do here.

Dream series............. or is it nightmares?

There is always a rite of passage in our lives; a cathartic moment that draws a fine line between what it was and what it will be. This decisive moment is like the  frame of a door; you are leaving but entering at the same time. It is a place of duality: doubt - hope,  excitment- fear, happiness-nostalgia. It is a place where most of us do not like to be. We live in a world of absolutes, having this space of transition ( limbo,permanence and ephemera) is  very unconfortable . We prefer not to get there, it can be  like a dream like state but it may feel like a shitty nightmare. These series of photos were created during last fall as I was moving assurely freaked out making changes in my life. And surely to hell I went; but also I have found strenghts that I did not know I had. It has made me more aware; sensory sensitive like when you are first born and getting adjusted to this world. I am still in that space of nakedness and vulnerability but I trust past rite of passages. My body remembers and with this knowledge I dare to cross the door.

The Buddha in me

These series speak about identity and my internal quest to find who I am and who I want to become. We all merge metaphorically with the places that we have live on or feel influenced by. There is always the quest for the search  of that place that makes you finally feel at home. The place that allows you to grow and explore who you are and what matters to you. We can't deny the embodiment that happens as we move  our spirit in physical planes, a certain level of mutation happens sometimes in way we can't perceive but it is present.

The East Side Cuture Crawl was a success

The East Side Culture Crawl was a success; several of my handmade silkscreens found new homes and a few of my mixed media paintings were adopted by lovely families.

 Thanks all for supporting the arts in Vancouver. Our goverment does not support us and leaves it to the public to keep the art scene alive. Thanks!

Food is fun By Rocio Graham

In  this performance piece I am intending to raise issues regarding our relationship with food and how we have lost the fun of eating because we are so concerned about our weight and our body image.

I am showing that my relationship with food is mostly festive. It is about the fun of sharing food, enjoying what I eat as opposed to feel that is something that has to be measured and afraid of.

I sense an apathy of young generations to eat. There are more than ever eating disorders due to the pressures of the new beauty stereotypes. In this piece I have a young man that represents the new generation of hipsters, they want to be cool they want to be fashionable they want to be skinny. I represent the women that rebel to that that want to eat and enjoy life without concerns about body image.

Eating has lost it fun, and I attempt to raise issues regarding that by playing with my food; having a sensory experience beyond the act of eating. Some may think is disgusting but I can tell you it is a lot of fun.

I want to thank Ryan Chantree , Mark Hoge and Rosita Perez for their assistance with this messy project.