©Marina Font, from Mental Maps

“The central axis of these very intuitive and visceral works is the approach to the female body perceived mainly through three planes: the biological, the psychological and the social, as well as the juxtapositions and connections among these themes.” – Marina Font

Marina Font’s new mixed- media series, Mental Maps, feels deeply psychological and poetic–an unseen woman, unclothed and standing tall, is covered with “women’s work”–yarn, thread, fabrics–as she stoically accepts this part of being feminine. The work also speaks to personal histories, where the meditative art of creating knitted or crocheted objects  reflect “our mothers and grandmothers, their stories, their homes and their rituals.” Marina has had a long time interest in the expression of the female experience. Her previous series Dark Continents, explored female sexuality where Mental Maps looks deeper into the psychological and emotional aspects of women.

Marina has just opened an exhibition of this work at the Dina Mitrani Gallery in Miami, Florida that runs through March 18, 2017. Install images of the exhibition are below.

Marina Font was born in Argentina in 1970. She studied design at the Martin Malharro School of Visual Arts, Mar del Plata. In 1998, she attended the Speos Ecole de la Photographie in Paris to study photography and earned an MFA in Photography from Barry University in Miami in 2009. Since then, she has exhibited extensively at galleries, museums and cultural institutions. Her work is included in collections such as the MDC Museum of Art + Design; the Lowe Art Museum at The University of Miami; The Fototeca Latinoamericana in Buenos Aires; The Girls’ Club Collection, Fort Lauderdale; The Bunnen Collection, Atlanta; and various private collections throughout the world.

Font’s work has been published in print and online: Inventario Magazine, Italy; Geografie (Book); Corraini Edizioni, Italy; Italian Marie Claire; Photo+ Magazine in South Korea; EnFoco’s Nueva Luz Photographic Journal; ArtNexus Magazine; Arte al Dia International; Las 12, Pagina 12, Argentina; Revista Magenta, Argentina; Jaque al Arte, Argentina; Wall Street International Magazine; The Miami Herald; The Miami New Times; Artdistricts Magazine; Revista Aplausos; El Nuevo Herald; Irreversible Magazine; Boca Magazine; LENSCRATCH; Elisabeth Avedon’s blog; aPhoto Editor blog; Light Leaked Photography blog; Artistas Argentinos en Miami (book); and the Girls’ Club Collection catalogue among others.

Install of Marina Font’s Mental Maps at Dina Mitrani Gallery in Miami

Install of Marina Font’s Mental Maps at Dina Mitrani Gallery in Miami

Install of Marina Font’s Mental Maps at Dina Mitrani Gallery in Miami

Install of Marina Font’s Mental Maps at Dina Mitrani Gallery in Miami

Install of Marina Font’s Mental Maps at Dina Mitrani Gallery in Miami

Install of Marina Font’s Mental Maps at Dina Mitrani Gallery in Miami

Mental Maps

Building from my previous series Dark Continents, I have continued to explore metaphorically the complexity of the human psyche and its inner threads to further investigate my relationship with the multiple intersecting factors that constitute the female identity and exploring different aspects of it.

The central axis of these very intuitive and visceral works is the approach to the female body perceived mainly through three planes: the biological, the psychological and the social, as well as the juxtapositions and connections among them. In this series, I begin with a black and white photograph of a female body and make of these neutral photographs a canvas for recreating, through the physical labor of sewing, metaphors of the mind’s systematic representation of the world.

My hands intervene each work manually, and through this intimate performatic ritual, the embodiment of the photograph becomes the common ground where the familiar and the foreign meet, as an individual attempt to blur the lines between the internal and external spaces of the body. The construction of these works evokes diverse psychological states and emotions with meanings that are in constant flux, just like our identities.

With Mental Maps, I aim to approach what lies beyond control and reason, exploring, through the act of drawing with thread, embroidery, fabrics and appropriated crochet pieces onto the photographic surface, the intricate mysteries of the psyche. Through these works I intend to shed imaginary light on the female experience in order to build idealized and fantastical connections to the forces of the unconscious. – Marina Font

©Marina Font, from Mental Maps

©Marina Font, from Mental Maps

©Marina Font, from Mental Maps

©Marina Font, from Mental Maps

©Marina Font, from Mental Maps

©Marina Font, from Mental Maps

©Marina Font, from Mental Maps

©Marina Font, from Mental Maps