Vabianna Santos
Milk, My Face
October 17th through November 16th

"I am a native San Diegan living in University Heights. I received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Maryland Institute College of Art in 2007. I am beginning to earn a Masters of Fine Arts from UCSD this year. My work has been shown in juried and group exhibitions in San Diego, Baltimore, Chicago and Philadelphia. I have also participated in performance-based events on both coasts, including participating in the Philly Fringe Fest. Working across mediums from photography to sculpture and video installation, my work addresses issues of identity through exploring the face and body as a mask conditioned by culture. My art examines how the body is understood by our culture. It takes a look at the standards of physical beauty, the stages of life and the failings of the body: disease, disability and death. Through these issues I am able to explore social interactions and we collide with one another through our sexuality, violence and attempts at communication. I have used portraiture, video, sculpture and installation in my investigation. I often use a performance aspect in the making of my photographs and videos- building objects or scenarios to be interacted with or worn by the subject. Some of my work attacks the concept of identity. The faces in the Milk My Face series become simplified masks that appear to be any sort of female icon that we are conditioned to see. To some viewers they resemble figures like Marilyn Monroe or Barbie because of the arrangement of their hair or the facial expression that their features form. This series is the first project that has allowed me to truly explore the idea of the mask through a real physical phenomenon. The faces emerge through a thin pool of milk that is then photographed. Milk is a substance that we relate to being nurtured, and as women to nurturing. In this case, the milk both nurtures and smothers."