Vera Saldivar de Lira
InnerSpaces
2018-current
By placing sheets of fine art paper on different surfaces of places and objects, I do a rubbing of the texture and geometry of these objects and places, then I photograph the paper in this context. With this gesture, every surface becomes a source of information and questions what is more of a direct representation; the paper containing the surface texture or the photograph of the paper once the texture has been imprinted on it. The objects become a way of reclaiming space, a way to reclaim them as my own, a recollection of my memory and a memento of my presence in that place where my gaze wanders for a couple of seconds, every day on my commute. In a sense counteracting the way in which cities function, through and despite the fear; as well as challenging my fear of open spaces by framing and recording my decoding of space with my presence in them. These imprints are then made using touch as a recording device.
Through these explorations, I make an allegory of photography where the imprints work as an index of a place, an action and presence. When focusing the lens on these non-places, they become a space on their own and without these images, they function as fragments of elements that compose a city; questioning the value of an imprint; does the experience of a place affect sense perceptions of reality when acting directly upon the physicality of it or when documenting it?