Elian Stolarsky

Born in 1990 Montevideo, Uruguay
Lives and works in Montevideo, Uruguay

 

My artistic practice delves around the relation between memory, migration and history. How History it is a Man´s construction made from choices. How migration is inherent in the concept of humanity. And how memory exists in order to be able to relate to each other as human beings.

I am the result of an immigrant family. I have heard stories about relatives I never knew.
I have shaped my identity based on stories I have never lived. My artistic practice allows me to get closer to my roots, and to wonder about the role that a Polish-Uruguayan woman artist holds nowadays.

Through my works, I wonder: could we not consider memory and fiction as two sides of thesame coin? Combining traditional forms and techniques (etching) with new media (installation,digital photography), I try to materialize my point of view on the learning process of both personal and collective stories. I consider my practice as a constant and necessary inquiry which, through its metaphorical and formal aspects, raises questions and talks about History.

Photography, printmaking techniques and installation are the three mediums that I consider best materialize those ideas. All my work starts from photographical archives and is mainly based on images from the twentieth century because they reveal a certain way of framing and comprehending reality that shapes how I understand my present.

While archival photography provides the ingredient of the past and (seeming) closeness to reality, etching evidences the fictional, noticeably subjective, aspect of the work that is also related to traditional processes. And installation serves as a way of understanding space, allowing the audience to experience with their own body a possible scenery that talks about the past but only makes sense in the present.