Giannina Urmeneta Ottiker's work explores how the past crawls under our skin and marks our everyday lives and bodies. Layered, and apparently damaged black and white images with a tinge of color look for a balance between silence and the lingering noise the past leaves behind. Body gestures subtly communicate with images of exotic plants and landscapes. Big diptychs and triptychs pull us into a black and white world of textures.
Existing between cultures, languages and identities the artist moves in that in-between space. The in-between becomes not just a place of personal identity, but a creative methodology.
Giannina grew up in Peru, a country that struggled and still struggles with political unrest, corruption and an unstable economy. Memories of tanks rolling down dark streets, military coups and terrorism were some of the stories and images of her past. In this huge country where saints and shamans dance together, where different skin colors try to cohabit, people keep on dancing like it doesn't matter.