MARIANA DEPETRIS

About the Artist

Mariana Depetris' work has been included in numerous international shows in Europe and the Americas. Her awards and residencies include The Pilar and Joan Miró Foundation in Palma de Mallorca, Spain; the Valparaíso Foundation in Almería, Spain and the Centrum Frans Masereel in Kasterlee, Belgium. Ms. Depetris' work is included in collections such as Harvard's David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies; the Flemish Ministry of Culture, Brussels, Belgium; and the Tama Art University Museum in Tokyo, Japan.

Her grants include two consecutive years of Georgia Council for the Arts to work on projects and camps with Douglasville area schools. Mariana has done outreach work with elementary, middle schools and high schools for a number of years. She also pursues being a visiting artist at universities across the country. Ms. Depetris’ most recent show includes her work at the 1st MAAPS International Printmaking Exhibition touring various sites in Canada, the UK, China (including the Red Gate Gallery in Beijing), Japan and Korea.

Ms. Depetris traveled throughout Vietnam on a research trip for her work during May 2007. Her latest solo show, Prominences, is part of this investigation and was presented in Statesboro, GA at the Averitt Center for the Arts in November 2007. Ms. Depetris holds a Licentiate Degree in Fine Arts from the National University of Córdoba, Argentina and a Master of Fine Arts from Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Georgia. She currently teaches Printmaking, Book Arts and Foundations at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, GA.

Artist's Statement

My images describe traditional games children play. The games are presented as rituals. These ideas freeze childhood moments that could have a threatening edge to them, since I mix different signs and icons belonging to different games. For instance, “Blind Man’s Bluff” visually weaves with “Hopscotch”. By changing the context, the activity breaks and changes the expected meaning of the game. The ritualistic side of the game mimics the adult world as children rehearse situations.

In this way, they can see themselves accepting or being accepted, rejecting or being rejected, attacking or defending themselves, frustrated or entertained, within the frame of the game and obtain a result stripped of any judgment or morality. The images in my work are self-referential and deeply rooted in personal history and childhood experiences in Argentina, including the shaped perception of growing up under a military dictatorship. Exploring these impressions or remnants of an impression transforms that memory into a Romantic moment. This explains the inclusion of some Victorian photographs of children, most of them girls, since I identify with this gender role.

Lately, my work is taking on a more minimal approach observing activities and actions that children do effortlessly and that we continue to do as adults under a different context and meaning. Childhood is romanticized by adults when adding, modifying or when remembering memories of a particular event. Children today, despite their innocence, know the difference between fantasy, reality and the dangers of their time.