Marta María Pérez
50 x 40 cm
Marta María Pérez Bravo's "Todo lo tengo, todo me falta" confronts the paradoxical essence of possession and absence within the ritualistic framework of Santería, depicting a shrouded figure whose face is obscured by diaphanous fabric—evoking the veil between corporeal identity and spiritual transcendence—while a rudimentary metal crown, adorned with dangling pendants, signifies an ironic sovereignty amid existential void, where regal adornment clashes with anonymized form to symbolize the dual burdens of divine plenitude and human insufficiency. Through the monochromatic gelatin silver print's ethereal diffusion, the work disrupts conventional portraiture, transforming the body into a vessel for metaphysical inquiry, where the crown's jagged contours and suspended elements allude to ritual accoutrements that bind the initiate to ancestral forces, yet underscore the perpetual oscillation between fulfillment through sacred communion and the haunting lacunae of personal longing. This conceptual dialectic extends to broader motifs of gendered spirituality and cultural hybridity, positing the veiled self as a site of alchemical tension, where abundance in mystical heritage coexists with the specter of deprivation, challenging viewers to navigate the liminal thresholds of empowerment and erasure in post-revolutionary Cuban consciousness.
Provenance
Marta Maria Studio > Galeria ArtizarExhibitions
"Algo mágico," Centro de la Imagen, Mexico City, Mexico, 1998.
"La Mirada: Looking at Photography in Latin America Today," Daros Exhibitions, Zurich, Switzerland, January 17–March 29, 2003.
"Bodies of Evidence: Contemporary Perspectives," RISD Museum, Providence, Rhode Island, United States, July 1–September 25, 2005.
"La Mirada: Fotografien und Videos aus der Daros Latinamerica Collection," Museum der Moderne Rupertinum, Salzburg, Austria, October 30, 2010–January 16, 2011.
"Women Pioneers II," Throckmorton Fine Art, Inc., New York, New York, United States, July 13–October 7, 2023.