Sara Maneiro Montiel

Topics on the platform:

"la Mueca de Berenice"
"Crimenes y Escenarios"
"Souvenirs"
"Primer cuerpo, Primera seccion"
"27-F"
"Armas Caseras y objetos de escape"

Artists Statement :

In the last 15 years, I have been working as a photographer.
After many years of studying the history and the ideas related to this discipline,
I have become aware of the importance of photography in the representation
of contemporary ideas.
Most of the time I have concentrated my studies and research in projects developed in Latin American countries, as well as in the work done in North America and Europe. Installation, performance, video and film studies have also been relevant
to my investigations. 
Whether written or visual, my work has focused on a conceptual analysis
of my own culture. As a Venezuelan, I have attempted to characterize social issues of a complex culture. In this regards, the analytical models have to be constantly permeated with the concrete apprehension of oral stories and oral history,
of unofficial and peripheral history as the ultimate testimony of reality, of sensorial experiences as an expression of undergoing social injustice and political repression.  
Film, photography and video have helped me develop and communicate my ideas and concerns. In this effort I have been closely drawn to elements that appear constantly in the subjects of my interest: death and survival, magical realism
and social realism, religious and popular syncretism and more recently,
the metropolis as a scenario of displacement, solitude and violence.

My current project is an approach to the urban landscape, a closer look at the objects that define the city, in its entire chaotic dimension, and our relation
as individuals with it. I have put a special accent on Caracas, my hometown,
a city that changes continually into two dimensions: that of informality, constituted basically by the shanty towns –the most common living condition worldwide-,
and secondly by the areas that have been formally designed and “planned”.

In general terms, chaos and violence have spread all over the city, therefore changing the relationship between citizens and their surroundings.
I intend to visualize the meaning and transformation of these cities (formal
and informal), depicting specific sites and details of the urban landscapes
with the idea of creating a portrait that can be understood as the self-representation of its inhabitants, besides showing their differences and similarities.  

Sara Maneiro Montiel

 

Biography

Licenciate in Social Communications, Universidad Católica Andrés Bello, Caracas.Master of Arts, New York University / International Center of Photography,
New York.Master of Literary Studies (studies), Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas.

 

One Person Shows:

2007 Souvenirs. Cartografía en proceso. Celarg, Caracas

1997 Obra Reciente, Sala Mendoza, Caracas.

1993 27-F, 80 Washington Square Gallery, New York.

 

Group Shows (selection):

 

2007

·       The Dissappeared, Museo del Barrio, NY.

2006

·       I Bienal de Arquitectura, Arte y Paisaje de Canarias. Islas Canarias, España.

·       Frontera 450, Station Museum of Contemporary Art, Houston.

·       Amsterdam. 3rd Internationale Fotografie Biennale Amsterdam Area, Atelier 2005. Amstelveen, The Netherlands.

·       Transmirada. Son Space Gallery. Girona, España.

·       The Dissappeared. Centro Cultural Recoleta. Buenos Aires, Argentina. /
Museo Nacional de Artes Visuales. Montevideo, Uruguay.

·       Novena Bienal de La Habana. Cuba.

2005

·       Living for the city. Jack Shainman Gallery, NY.

·       The Disappeared. North Museum Dakota of Art, USA. 

2003

·       Arte Venezolano del Siglo XX. Los noventa.
Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Caracas Sofía Imber, Caracas.

·       Venezuela Subterránea (primer mes de la fotografía)
Galería Universitaria de Arte (UCV)

·       Bienal de Fotografia Daniela Chappard, Caracas.

2002

·       De colección. Relatos de uso y abusos. Celarg, Caracas.

2001

·       Utópolis, la ciudad 2001. Galería de Arte Nacional, Caracas.

·       Metáforas de la ausencia, Museo Jacobo Borges, Caracas.

2000

·       Personal Permanent Records, Contemporary Latinamerican Photography.
Blue Star Space Gallery, Houston.

1999

·       Bienal de Arte Salón Dior, Centro Cultural Corp Group, Caracas.

·       Bienal Internacional de Fotografía, Centro de la Imagen, México.

1998

·       Decentering Visions, 10 Venezuelan Photographers, Lehigh Gallery, Philadelphia.

·       Desde el Cuerpo: Alegorías de lo femenino, Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas.

1997

·       Así está la Cosa. Instalación y Arte Objeto en América Latina, Centro Cultural de Arte Contemporáneo, Ciudad de México.

·       Knowledge, Power and Control, The Finnish Museum of Photography, Helsinki.

1996

·       The Furor of Change, Pulse Art Gallery, Nueva York.

·       Body of work, Ambrosino Gallery, Miami. 1995

1994

·       Sangre de mi sangre, Centro de la Imagen. Ciudad de México.

 

Work in the collections of:

Colección Ignacio y Valentina Oberto, Caracas

Colección Cisneros, Caracas

Throckmorton Fine Arts, NY

Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas

Clinica Aesthetica, NY

Art Omi International Arts Center, NY

North Dakota Museum of Art, North Dakota

Casa de las Américas, Cuba

Ateneo de Valencia, Venezuela