London, United Kingdom
Constanza Valderrama is a Chilean artist based in London. Constanza was awarded a two-year scholarship by the Chilean National Research and Development Agency (ANID) to conduct research at the Royal College of Art, from which she recently graduated with a MA in Photography.
Her understanding of photography as a material thing has allowed her to explore the material properties with which photographic images intertwine, a process that she refers to as ‘photographic incarnations’. These are processes in which images and materials coalesce. Consequently, her work renders visible that every copy or visualisation of a photograph is always unique and unrepeatable, even if its nature is digital.
Through diverse material experimentations, Constanza’s practice aims to expand the limits of photography, not only to question the conventional ways of doing photography but also discussing the idea of reproduction that traditionally links to it. An ‘economy’ of resources constitutes the second principal axis through which Constanza thinks of photography. Her work displays an articulation of ordinary and low-cost materials, laser prints, low-quality images, and quotidian thematics. These choices allow her to advance a reflective critique of the elitism and ‘high standards’ in which art and photography generally embed. The economy of resources of her practice also highlights her condition as a Latin American female artist working in a global contemporary art market.
