Natalia Arias. Class of 2015

About

In CLASS OF 2015, Natalia Arias combines issues of identity with today’s accepted beauty attributes. She references the ideas children have about beauty, and the transformations needed in order to “turn” somet hing or someone into a beautiful thing. Presenting this concept with a sharp and sarcastic sense of humor, she creates images of altered dolls that have seemingly been painted and manipulated by the hands of a child. In using children’s pure and unaffected points of view, she displays before our eyes the contrast between them and the social visualization of attractiveness that we are incorporating into our collective aesthetics. The dolls are painted, cut, and their outfits changed - modifications made to come closer to a child’s concept of perfection. The photographs imitate the customary school portrait, emphasizing the child - like atmosphere and the humoristic gesture. Through these tools, Arias lays out the absurdity in our obsession with physical beauty , yet accentuates the same importance that children, still unaltered by our visual culture, give to it.

With CLASS OF 2015, Arias continues exploring modern culture through sarcasm, taboos, clichés, myths and icons, as well as examining the process of transition and transformation. By presenting images in a state of flux, Arias poses questions about existence and identity. In her own words: “The child sees that unblemished, 'perfect' plaything as incomplete. They add color and indelible detail with marker, paint, makeup and pencil. They remove hair, clothes and accessories with scissors and through wear from use. And through this transformation they wind up with the 'imperfect' that becomes a best friend.”