25 june 2024, Wouter van den Eijkel
The studio of... Aimée Zito Lema
Argentinian-Dutch artist Aimée Zito Lema often used archives as the starting point for her work in recent years. By re-photographing archival photos, she retells and visualises histories and stories.
Un cuerpo al que volver is more personal. For the first time, she has photographed personal clothing and belongings. Among other things, we see the watch and coat of her deceased father and a T-shirt the artist wore during childbirth, not in colour but in the black and white of an X-ray. “X-rays worked for me because you literally photograph through the object.” In doing so, Zito Lema documents the immaterial side of these objects, the experiences and memories they carry.
Un cuerpo al que volver / A body to come back to can be seen until 13 July at the tegenboschvanvreden gallery in Amsterdam.
Where is your studio and what does it look like?
My studio is in the Veemgebouw in Amsterdam, an old warehouse that was squatted in the '80s and beautifully renovated by a group of artists and architects. It houses lots of studios for art, design and small businesses. It's an inspiring place to work with the best view of the IJ!
You have a multidisciplinary practice, creating sculptures, performances, video work and installations. What kind of studio space is ideal for this?
I have a large studio, which I need because I often make large work and work on multiple projects at the same time. I like being able to move from one to another. A large worktable and space to work on the floor are important. I almost never work on the wall, but always make work on a flat surface where I can walk around it. I also have a play area for my children, who love being in the studio with me.
Aimée Zito Lema, Time (restored), 2024, tegenboschvanvreden
How do you determine which medium to use for a project? For Un Cuerpo al que Volver / A Body to Come Back To, you used photography and film. Why?
My starting points are concepts that lead me to a particular medium. So, the choice of material or technique depends on the work I want to create and what I want to convey. Once I make that choice, I can spend a long time on material research, such as making paper or analogue photography. For this exhibition, the focus is on the relationship between photography, paper and memory. I used video to document a restoration process, providing another perspective on the subject. I like showing multiple outcomes of the same work to convey the complexity or layering of a subject.
Congratulations on the exhibition! In the past, you often worked with archival materials. This time you chose to use the clothing and belongings of both yourself and family members. We see watches, coats and T-shirts. Why did you take this step and what story do you want to tell?
In recent years, I’ve frequently worked with archival images. I re-photograph existing photos, often focusing on specific details. I consider archives a starting point from which I can retell and visualise histories and stories. When I re-photograph an existing photo, the image, and therefore the subject related to it, comes to life again in the present. I find that a beautiful notion—a kind of resurrection of the image, which I simultaneously transform into something new. For this exhibition, I used personal objects, but I also consider them part of a family archive. I am interested in the relationship between the historical and the personal; the resulting work is where these intersect.
Aimée Zito Lema, Jacket (blue stain), 2024, tegenboschvanvreden
The photos are made with X-ray equipment. How did you manage that? I ask because such equipment is not easily accessible, especially not of the size to scan a coat in its entirety.
I first photographed the objects with a regular camera, but that didn’t turn out right. It remained too much the object itself—the colour of my father's coat, the text on the T-shirt and the bloodstains from my childbirth were still there. That was too much information. So, I looked for a way to document these objects that almost allowed you to look through them. Documenting what the objects represent, the experiences and memories they carry, which is not material. X-rays worked because you literally photograph through the object. I am fortunate that one of the most specialised photographers in this type of documentation technique, René Gerritsen, works in my studio building and could take the pictures for me.
You then tore the photos and reassembled them, making the tear lines visible. In the video, you show one of the photos being restored. Can I interpret this as a metaphor for the intergenerational transmission of traumas?
Yes, it is a metaphor, yet also a very concrete material action. I find both important. You see how the photo is restored and an image is created from pieces. The work refers to the cracks we carry as people, but also to how an image is created.
Aimée Zito Lema, Untitled (hands), 2024, tegenboschvanvreden
The title refers to a body, but apart from a fragment of an arm of your child, no body is visible. That seems intentional. Was this deliberate?
Yes, the body is central but not visible. It is present in the traces, in the clothing and objects that bodies once wore. Both the coat, the watches and T-shirt that keep appearing in the exhibition are references to the body. The objects also refer to moments of death and birth—the moment when the body no longer exists as matter and the moment when the body is there for the first time, being born. The title is a direct reference to that absent body. What needs to return to the body remains an open question. It is also the history, the past that could return to that body and find a place.
Un Cuerpo al que Volver is quite personal. Do you see yourself making such presentations more often in the future or do you want to return to archival materials?
This exhibition is a new step, yes, but I think all my work is personal. Whether archival images or family objects, history also consists of personal experiences and stories, so I will certainly continue to connect the two.
What are you currently working on?
Last week was the unveiling of my first work in public space. A work of art in honour of migrant workers in Utrecht, which I have been working on for the past three years, is now on display in the Majellapark. I am also currently working on a large photographic installation that will be shown at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam in October as part of the exhibition Municipal Art Acquisitions. Next year, I will spend three months in residency at the EKWC (European Ceramic Work Centre), where I will be researching material memory and forms of restoration, as I have done with paper and photography in recent years, but now with ceramics. It will be an entirely new step that I look forward to."
Aimée Zito Lema in haar atelier. Foto: Zazie Stevens, 2024
