Kalena Marshall Garcia
“good with a camera”

Projects
You Don’t Look Puerto Rican
COMPHET
Learning Solidarity 1 & 2
Arroz y no Gandules
Domino
Sustainable Printing
Video Work
Curation  
Collaborations
Archive About
Resume/ CV
Contact

Artists Statement

When making work, I aim to bring light to issues that the Puerto Rican Diaspora and women face while I share my experience as a queer woman in being a part of those communities. I exist at the intersection of these marginalized groups while still in a privileged position. Many of the issues my communities face are due to colonization and institutional systems exploiting them or never giving them accurate representation. In my work, I showcase the duality of those relationships through the use of traditional and alternative photographic processes, while making space for awareness of history and these conversations in spaces that historically excluded them.

I work with lens based mediums as a means of reclamation since they were previously used by colonial powers as a form of exploitation to document and display my communities in inaccurate ways. It’s important to me to not only show duality with images but also the materials used to make them. Much of the materiality used in my work reflects the content and intention. I work a lot with fugitive elements and how the dual relationship of work that decays creates dialogue with archival materials. 

My work takes many forms, ranging from traditional silver gelatin prints to large scale installations. My work is heavily concept and research based in tandem with my own experiences. A large part of my practice is the curation and installation of my work with the intention of showing that parallel dynamic through the viewing as well by breaking traditional ways of displaying work in gallery spaces. 

I am often in a parallelled position to the dual relationships I discuss in my work as a mixed artist– never being from here nor there, never really belonging to just one place or space but this liminal experience I inhabit. I exhibit work in institutional fine art and communal art spaces, but make work the same way. Through the creation of my work I am challenging established narratives and fostering inclusivity and understanding. By creating space for these dialogues in environments that have historically excluded them, I aim to contribute to the broader social discourse on identity, colonization, and systemic issues that affect the communities I am a part of.