iliana emilia García "Sittings at Surf Point I" (2022). Monoprint on paper, 30 x 22 in. Framed.

iliana emilia García "Sittings at Surf Point I" (2022). Monoprint on paper, 30 x 22 in.

At the core of my work is a poetic and emotional examination of the history of objects. I explore the value we assign to what we own from the places we come from and that which we keep through life’s journeys and crossroads. In my installations and paintings, there is an emphasis on the recurrence of objects telling evolving stories of resilience, and memory. I visually document things that may trigger and build up memory. I search for linkages of objects to places and emotions to convert them into storytellers in their own right. The presence of domestic objects, such as the chair, allows me to delve deeper into ancestral processes of survival, legacy, as well as dynamics between generations and places. The chair and text become instruments to relate to tradition, visual history as storytelling, remembrance, and commitment. I articulate the objects to recollect, preserve and reveal memory while reflecting on our basic need for emotional comfort. On canvas and in installations, my compositions emanate mappings of ancestry and personal history. They speak of human movements, migration, and constant evolution. They offer piles of stories to add to our present and create a chain of events, documentation, and intergenerational dynamics. They make us aware of the pockets of resilience among trauma and grief, and solidarity amid injustices. I may not change history, but I learn from it as the past of a present. - iliana emilia García ‘22