KARINA R CUNNINGHAM

separation and inhabitance

Separtation and Inhabitance // 2019 // digital print on fleece, wood, twine

The faux tapestries titled Separation and Inhabitance reinterprets imagery from Andean wall pieces found in my mother’s collection. By ordering printed fleece blankets, the hand crafted has been transformed into a kitsch, digitally produced commodity. The imagery printed on the fleece also references artworks, photos, and decorative objects that can be found at my parent’s home and business. Like those objects, the personalized blankets represent a comfort and privilege that starkly contrasts with the domestic settings depicted in the weavings. The pixelated distortions emphasize the digital and industrial fabrication process that points to a “loss of aura” which Walter Benjamin discussed in his 1936 essay The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. Benjamin argued that mechanical reproduction takes away the aura and authority of the original work. With the purposeful loss of aura, I am interested in exploring the palpable space between assimilated domestic environments and the idyllic, culturally rich settings where the Peruvian chollas are depicted.