Cristel SILVA
Graduated from UQAM in visual and media arts, Cristel Silva Silva is interested in the notion of territory and how it leads a reflection on individual and collective identity. Her multidisciplinary work encompasses the mediums of textiles, photography and installation and relates mainly to nature in metropolises as a means of fragmentation of power structures. She has participated in several group exhibitions and her works have been presented at the Ateliers Jean Brillant , at the GHAM & DAFE gallery, as well as at the Galerie de L'UQAM. Originally from Mexico, Cristel lives and works in Montreal.
In her work, Cristel Silva conceives of the inhabited territory as a set of historical layers that shape and normalize the systems of power within societies. More specifically, she is interested in the presence of nature in the city as a means of segmenting oppressive structures such as colonialism and capitalism. Her works reflect personal experiences lived in the unoccupied spaces found in the unceded Mohawk territory of Tiohtià: ke (Montreal). These abandoned spaces favor an ecosystem hosting a native nature that experiences constant changes; they represent nothingness within the flow of cities, the state of inaction in the face of a productivist society. Using scientific-type surveys that are part of a methodical approach (exploration of the land, taking samples, researching archives, collecting images and found objects, etc.) the artist generates a formal analysis of the biodiversity found in these places. Cristel Silva uses these observations as the basis for a multidisciplinary plastic approach that includes the mediums of textiles, photography and printing techniques; it thus establishes a succession between images visually reminiscent of scientific illustration and self-referential symbolic landmarks.
August 29, 2022
Currently in residence at @limprimerie.art where she will present, on October 27, her research in the company of other artists over there. Cristel Silva from Mexico, aka @limbossa_, sometimes ventures into the wastelands of Montreal from which she inventories objects she finds there, makes a photographic sampling, researches archives, etc. She is interested in the notion of territory and how it leads to a reflection on the individual identity and the social and political context. She is interested in the notion of territory and how it leads to a reflection on individual and collective identity. Specifically, the presence of nature in the city as a means of segmenting structures of oppression such as colonialism and capitalism. Her work reflects personal experiences in the unoccupied spaces found in the unceded Mohawk territory of Tiohtià:ke (Mtl). As a result, her practice is relative to an archival and archaeology approach, while having a symbolic and personal imprint.
Silva will consider a more digital approach in her next creations where she will explore, among other things, programming in her installations and possible collaboration with First Nations in relation to her practice.
