Pierina Cleaning by Groana Melendez
SOLD
Groana Melendez
Pierina Cleaning, 2016
7.25 x 11 in.
Archival Pigment Print Printed on pearl metallic paper
Framed in silver with wood frame
About the Work
Part of El Nombre Mío, Ajeno a series of photographs, videos and other lens-based works. Through this work Groana explores the interconnectedness of relationships, class and identity. The title originates from the poem, El Apellido/My Last Name, by Nicolás Guillén, a Cuban poet who worked towards creating a synthesis between ancestries and different cultures. The line loosely translates as “my foreign name” which denotes the history of colonization and the fractured identities that resulted.
About the Artist
groana (they/she) is a lens-based artist raised between New York City and Santo Domingo. Their work explores hybrid identities through self-representation. They hold an MFA in Advanced Photographic Studies from the International Center of Photography-Bard Program and has been part of residencies at Proyecto ‘Ace, Diaspora Vibe Arts Incubator, and ARC Athens. They are included in the collections of El Museo del Barrio, the Library of Congress, and En Foco Inc. groana has had solo shows at the New York Public Library, CUNY, and ICP-Bard’s studio in Queens. They have been included in group shows at the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, the Latinx Project at NYU, BRIC Arts, and El Museo del Barrio’s La Trienal 20/21, the museum’s first national large-scale survey of Latinx contemporary art. They work and live in the Bronx in New York City.