SAPUCAY MARICA: INTERVIEW WITH LORENZO GONZÁLEZ BALTAZAR

What is the role of photography in your work and how does it modify the perception of the interventions you make in spaces?

My beginnings in photography are somewhat accidental. At the beginning I made interventions in public spaces, based on sculptures and small-scale models. I felt the need to record them, to look for a different image. Photography appears in this idea of trying to perceive the space in which these interventions were inserted and what I found was a desire to generate an illusion that in reality did not happen. What I could do was to unite both spaces: lower my vision to see the models and sculptures more closely, to see the whole city from that perspective. In other words, to invert the proportions.

That project was inspired by Berni's work, where the materials and stories of the periphery were taken, but instead of being giant paintings they are tiny three-dimensional interventions.

They told stories of the urban spaces that are next to us, but we do not perceive: these interventions even remained for a long time and people stepped on them, they did not see them, maybe it was the children who found them and stayed playing.

I began to take photographs from that pursuit, playing with these miniature characters that seemed to be on the scale of the city. An optical illusion. Photography came to invert proportions to see these sculptures in the foreground and show us that they are part of the city. That is what photography contributed, a perspective that was perhaps impossible at scale.

Then I began to appear in those images and, consequently, my own history.

What is your proposal for this edition of Pinta BAphoto, in the NEXT | Out of Focus section, together with Primor gallery?

In this edition of Pinta BAphoto I present my latest project, Sapucay Marica, in which I investigate LGBTQ+ and non-binary identities in rural Corrientes, based on my own experience. I was born in Yapeyú (Corrientes, Argentina), and grew up working with my family in the countryside. These images come to reinterpret these memories giving them another color and playing with the performativity of the body. Everyday situations are narrated, such as butchering a pig or growing watermelons. There is something about the journey as well: how to get out of there and how to get back.

There is a strong influence of Marcos López or Pedro Almodóvar. But what interested me was to show my own story, to portray myself in a performativity and identity that is not usually related to rural life. The queer, femininities or these forms of masculinities are not visualized in this field, so I propose a character that is me, or my alter ego Sapucay. I like to think about what Susan Sontag said about photography: although it can be staged, it can be theatrical, photographs are a capture of a reality that actually happened. I was there, dressed in that way, performing those actions and I recorded them: somehow, they are real. In this project I like that about photography, that it is a real testimony of something that is fictional but that happened.

Yapeyú is a place full of history, both personal and national. How does that history intertwine with your work? How do you think that landscape and those memories influenced your artistic vision?

As a child we were always taught a lot about José de San Martín, because he was born in Yapeyú. For me he was just another member of the family. It is full of very significant places, with a historical anchor that is important to me. I think about the memories, beyond history, in the small subjectivities of that time and what relationship they have with me today, it makes me think about what are my struggles today.

Sometimes my parents tell me “Don’t get involved in this or don't give your opinion on such thing” and I answer them: “why would I do that if they taught me that you have to fight for what you want?" I learned that “Sanmartinian” culture when I was a child. I also think of those traditions tied to history: dancing chamamé or horseback riding. Today I go back to those places much surer of myself, with the desire to feel them as my own, to reconnect with those actions through my work.

In your work you seem to play a lot with dualities: rurality and urbanity, the intimate and the collective, family and personal identity. How do these tensions dialogue in your creative process?

I always think there is a wide spectrum of things. Not everything is black or white, but in everyday life or when one simplifies, it is possible to fall into those places. I like to investigate and mix, to make those grays or other colors reappear. And that's what I try to do in my work. With my photographs I portray a character with an identity that is crossed by many things. In fact, when I think about my performativity, sometimes it has more masculine traits, sometimes more feminine, and sometimes it doesn't look like anything, it's something in itself. I like to inhabit from that place.

Several sensations are combined. In other projects pain was the great mobilizer, but now it is superimposed with joy, with enjoyment, there is something more fun and playful, without losing its accents or bitter drops.

What role do questions play in your work?

If there's one thing we can do best, it's to ask questions, not to take things for granted. Asking someone else a question is also asking yourself. In my work, what heads this project is the question what is happening around? And what can I make happen with these surroundings.

How was the experience of self-managing and participating in various art spaces, and how important do you think self-management is for emerging artists today?

Sometimes when I talk to older artists, they tell me about the lack of channels there were before to develop their careers. Today, fortunately, there are many more: from social networks to calls for proposals. Something that happened in my case is that I started my career in the periphery of the circuit, where self-management is fundamental because there is no space, one has to do everything. It was a contextual necessity. For me, collaborative work is fundamental in this type of self-management projects.

In addition, I also develop self-managed work spaces of residencies in Yapeyú with my brother Francisco. And, also, clinics for artists where we work on artistic projects, career planning, how to apply for contests or calls and other research processes as well.

*This interview was conducted in collaboration with Pinta BAphoto, as part of the OPEN FILES video series.