CAMPO Benefit Auction 2023

Artwork Description
This artwork is part of the series ​​“El lugar del verde”, 2016-2018.

Photographing a high-rise apartment belonging to the Jewish community, something caught my attention: a corner filled with palms and various plants, arranged as if on a stage; perfectly aligned, framed by curtains and false columns, they formed an almost kabbalistic design. There was undoubtedly something hidden among those crowded leaves. I was intrigued to know how they had arrived there and for what reason such a corner had been allocated to them, in a dining room where everything seemed to follow a tone as moderate as it was rational.

I began to closely follow the plants. Walking through the city, suddenly they appeared where before they had been covered by the monotony of habit, which tinges everything with familiarity, with what is not worth paying attention to. All at once, I found myself scrutinizing the green in the city, mentally citing images from 'The Why of Oranges' (Ricardo Cases, 2014). I found in that work a reference and an excuse to study photographically how we perceive another color, green (referring here to vegetation - plants, flowers, or their artificial representation -), and what value we give to nature in the urban environment.

Bio
Irina Raffo (Montevideo, 1982)

Photographer and audiovisual filmmaker. Currently pursuing a Master's in South American Cinema (National University of the Arts, Argentina) and holds a Bachelor's degree in Communication (Catholic University of Uruguay). She studied Visual Arts in France (Université Rennes II) and graduated from the Film Program at Universidad Torcuato Di Tella.

Since 2014, she has been developing artistic and audiovisual projects that operate at the intersection of film and visual arts. Her work has been exhibited in Uruguay, Argentina, Italy, Spain, and Germany. She has received awards and recognitions such as the Culture Contestable Fund (Uy), Artistic Training Fund (Uy), and the National Fund for the Arts (Ar).

Highlighted exhibitions include: "Intermitencias," Centro Cultural España, Montevideo (2022); "Uruguayan Contemporary Photography," PhotoEspaña, Madrid (2018); "56th and 57th National Visual Arts Prize," Montevideo (2014, 2016); "Pretext," Centro de Fotografía de Montevideo (2018).

irinaraffo.com
@irina_raffo