BIO
Maria Constanza Ferreira (b. 1994, Caracas, Venezuela) is a multimedia artist and independent animator. Her works have been showcased internationally and she was most recently an artist in residence at the Santa Barbara Center for Art, Science, and Technology. In 2019 and 2020, Ferreira was awarded a residency in the chemistry laboratory of the Kahr Research Group at New York University, with funding from the National Science Foundation and the Kahr Group. In 2020 Ferreira was the recipient of the GLAS Animation Festival Grant, the singular grant of its kind for independent animators in the US, in addition to receiving two nominations for Vimeo’s Best of the Year in the “Experimental Category”. She holds a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in Film/Animation/Video and Graphic Design.
BASED IN
New York City and Santa Barbara, California
UPCOMING
Torrinha Artist Residency in Porto, Portugal (July 1st)
ARTIST STATEMENT
My multimedia art practice incorporates video, installation, photography, and various forms of fine art and digital media to explore the imperceptible—images, objects, materials, and natural phenomena that are disconnected from every-day life or so prevalent that they become unseen. My work draws attention to these forms, reimagining their cultural and historical narratives usually through some interaction with technology. In my quest to visualize the invisible, I use scientific imaging techniques as an extension of my artistic hand, working with machines such as satellites, microscopes, scanners, and computers, to search for spaces invisible to the naked eye while examining the body’s relationship to nature and technology. The theoretical backbone of my practice is the interconnection between advancements in the scientific and technological fields and humanity’s altered conceptualization of the world, often resulting in disembodied perceptions of the environment.
Through my
work with crystallography, I examine the self-generative properties of
synthetic crystals– fascinating objects that are able to build themselves into
being. Experimenting with the interaction between crystals and light, I began
to consider light as a tangible medium. In exploring the body’s visual
relationship with light and its physiological limitations, I conceptualized new
artistic experiences by utilizing tools that could surpass the eye's
capabilities. My works dealing with light embodies the relativity of color and
expands upon the idea of color as a fragile artistic concept. In my practice, I
experiment with the integration of light, movement, time, sound, and space to
construct unfamiliar modes of representation by deliberately blurring the line
between the physical and the abstract – ultimately offering unconventional ways
of seeing and new perspectives. Through a course of continuous fragmentation,
destruction, displacement, and evolution, my works are products of abstraction
where the imagery becomes strange to the viewer, including myself.