Juana Urrea

GAF 2023 Student Leadership Team  Artists Events Installation Views
 
An installation photograph of a black table with printed maps of Manhattan placed on a light box, along with loose tracing paper. The traced images are hung on a white wall, above the table.
Temporary Constellations, 2023, Juana Urrea (MA ’23)

ARTIST STATEMENT

Temporary Constellations is a participatory mapping project based on geographer Doreen Massey’s ideas on space. Massey argues that we understand the space around us as a series of temporary constellations, highlighting the ephemeral nature of experience and identifying a series of nodes and trajectories that together create meaning. This meaning can then be reclaimed, repurposed, or reconfigured into different perspectives. Participants are encouraged to chart temporary constellations of their understanding of New York City and their own landmarks. This project attempts to answer questions such as: What happens when we map personal experiences collectively? What do the paths, destinations, and routes we take say about our identities and our cities? How can we subvert conventional, limiting, and even oppressive ideas of space? How can we use alternative cartographies to infuse geography with narrative and notions of time?

BIO

Juana Urrea

Juana Urrea (she/her) is a Colombian multidisciplinary artist based in New York City. Urrea works in a variety of media, often incorporating collage and textile elements into her illustrations. Throughout her work Urrea explores the concept of the quotidian and its role in shaping places and identity.