Contemporary artist Tatiana Parcero studies identity and the nature of mankind through lenses of biology, geography, and the natural world, as well as history, ritual, and tradition. Through her work she poses questions about humankind. Who are we and how can we find purpose and allegiance with something greater than ourselves? What is the higher power and what should be the aim of our greatest ambition? Parcero asks these questions while using the self as a prism. Her work imagines answers through visual metaphors.
The works in the Ossis series are rich and textured with a velvety surface that more closely resembles a charcoal drawing than a photograph. The prints are visually soft yet sharply rendered. Ossis #9, which appears in our 10 Year Anniversary Exhibition: Time in two directions, considers alignments and connections; it unifies large with small, the creatures of the sea with earth, and humans with animals. The artist, who includes herself in nearly all her works, is shown here holding the skull of a cow with open, gentle fingers. The skull conceals her face and chest with the sort of protection a mask or shield would. The skull of the much larger creature shares many similarities to our own. With ease, we identify the eye sockets, nasal cavity, jawbone with teeth. By bringing bones into context with the living body, Parcero pushes life and death together. All creatures are born, live, and die. The cycle of life is exactly that, and so life and death are not opposing elements, simply two ends of the same phenomena. Ultimately, the Ossis work becomes a meditation, an act of remembrance: if the nature of existence is shared by all, then universal stewardship ought to be our golden rule.
Ossis #9, 2016
51 x 43 in. pigment print | Edition of 5
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