Justine Graham | Contemporary Art from Chile: Common Place | Artist 1 of 2

Justine Graham | www.yapoproject.cl

Justine Graham

Contemporary Art from Chile: Common Place

AMA | Art Museum of the Americas

Artwork

Graham's current exhibit on the second floor of AMA, Common Place (Lugar Común), was created together with Colombian artist Ruby Rumié - both of whom are based in Santiago, Chile. The exhibition portrays the evolving subordinate relationship between Latin American housekeepers and their housewife employers, reflecting issues of gender, power, class and race. 

detail from Common Place | Photograph by Christopher Cunningham

Comprised of photographs, videos, and surveys of 100 women between the ages of 19 and 95, this project merges art and sociology, and explores new sensorial and emotional experiences in an attempt to discover affinities and differences among participants, separating itself from the bias and stereotypes present in hierarchical relationships. Common Place challenges conventional methods of portraiture and proposes new social constructs.

Bio

Justine Graham (Nice, France, 1976.) is a photographic artist and cultural producer based in Santiago, Chile since 2005. She holds a Masters in Urban Studies, London School of Economics in 2001, Bachelor in Culture & Politics, Georgetown University, 1999, and photography foundation studies at Parsons School of Design, Paris 1995. Justine Graham worked in London as Projects Director for cultural organizations linked to urbanism and architecture from 2001 to 2005. In 2005 she founded YAPO Project in Santiago, Chile, a cultural laboratory dedicated to exploring social, spatial and cultural issues of identity through multi-disciplinary projects (www.yapoproject.cl). She is Photography Professor at the Universidad Católica de Chile’s School of Design. 


Graham is also currently exhibiting her first solo show in one of Santiago’s premier contemporary art spaces (Sala Gasco), which can be seen here. There's also small "making-of" video of this installation ( of more that 8,600 postcards!) and can be viewed here.


Recent exhibits include: Common Place (Lugar Común) (with Ruby Rumié, Art Museum of the Americas, Washington, DC 2011), An Imaginary Atlas of Santiago de Chile (Sala Gasco Arte Contemporáneo, 2011), Ripping (with Ruby Rumié, Centro de Centro de Formación de la Cooperación Española, Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, 2010), Lugar Común: 100 women (with Ruby Rumié, Museo de Artes Visuales, Santiago, 2010), Geography of Work: Photographs of Chilean Workers (Museo de Bellas Artes, 2008). She recently published her first 400-page book, Atlas Imaginario de Santiago de Chile, documenting 6 years of Santiago’s informal urban landscape.