Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art is a museum in England pursuing a civic agenda, aiming to have a social function and to repurpose art as a tool. It works with artists who explore use value, activism, community building, and citizenry. It is organising an exhibition with Barcelona-based artist Daniela Ortiz. The show includes new works, commissioned or produced for the occasion.
Daniela Ortiz addresses in her exhibition nationality, colonialism, race and class to look at the politics of citizenship. In her recent projects, she has drawn on her own experience as an immigrant to examine national and international migratory control systems. In Middlesbrough, Ortiz has led workshops with people seeking asylum, particularly single mothers and their pre-school children, to deal with some of the issues they face, from racism to perceptions around the ‘refugee crisis’. The exhibition gives a platform to these concerns, and the featured pieces include a children’s book that challenges stereotypes associated with migration as well as documents, recordings of lectures, films and paintings depicting scenic views of border territories. Daniela Ortiz (b. Peru, 1985) investigates how race, class, nationality, gender, and ethnicity relate to colonial histories and contemporary migration, particularly considering the connection between power structures, identity, Eurocentric narratives, and subalternity. Her projects address the articulation of hegemonic laws, ethics, ideologies, and moralities with personal subjectivity and collective consciousness, and take the form of lectures, photographs, and installations. She often uses herself as subject matter or collaborates with people in her works, regularly employing tactics associated with activism. Her practice seeks to provoke transformation, focusing on the use value of art.
Daniela Ortiz addresses in her exhibition nationality, colonialism, race and class to look at the politics of citizenship. In her recent projects, she has drawn on her own experience as an immigrant to examine national and international migratory control systems. In Middlesbrough, Ortiz has led workshops with people seeking asylum, particularly single mothers and their pre-school children, to deal with some of the issues they face, from racism to perceptions around the ‘refugee crisis’. The exhibition gives a platform to these concerns, and the featured pieces include a children’s book that challenges stereotypes associated with migration as well as documents, recordings of lectures, films and paintings depicting scenic views of border territories. Daniela Ortiz (b. Peru, 1985) investigates how race, class, nationality, gender, and ethnicity relate to colonial histories and contemporary migration, particularly considering the connection between power structures, identity, Eurocentric narratives, and subalternity. Her projects address the articulation of hegemonic laws, ethics, ideologies, and moralities with personal subjectivity and collective consciousness, and take the form of lectures, photographs, and installations. She often uses herself as subject matter or collaborates with people in her works, regularly employing tactics associated with activism. Her practice seeks to provoke transformation, focusing on the use value of art.