An Inherent View of the World

Multi-media installation artist Juana Valdes uses her training in Western post-modern philosophy, printmaking, photography, sculpture and ceramics to explore issues of transculturation, pigmentocracy, history and memory. In the past, Valdes worked with maps, ships and sailing motifs to investigate the complexities of identity in the face of shifting national/political borders as well as the history of human migration. More recently, Valdes began working with bone china porcelain, traditionally distinguished and valued for its whiteness and translucency and documented as an important commodity in the history of trade between Europe and Asia. By inserting pigments during fabrication into the clay and manipulating its chemical composition, Valdes created artworks which serve as metaphors for the mythology of whiteness in our society. In the current project on view, Valdes encourages us to ponder the history of global trade and colonialism by presenting a monumental installation of vintage china and domestic wares she has collected from antiques shops, flea markets and estate sales/auctions.