GUSTAVO GARCÍA-VILLA : ÀNIMAS

EDJI Gallery is pleased to present Ánimas , a special collaboration with Mexican photographer Gustavo García-Villa. This project, marking the gallery’s first photography collaboration, complements the theme of Carlos Rodriguez’s main floor show by focusing on the exploration of Mexican heritage through a different medium.

"Choosing one's own mask is the first human voluntary gesture. And it is lonely.”

— Clarice Lispector

ÁNIMAS 

Masks create new identities, interrupt daily life, break power relations and suggest unusual possibilities as they transcend human reality by reminding us that our immediate preoccupations are governed by forces greater than ourselves. 

To wear a mask is a ritual to experiment and invent beyond social and gender needs. The masks open a window for hybridization inside or outside of this world, through birth or death, of early age or of maturity. They are living potential for the disorder. 

It is an ancestral tradition that is still alive, they are necessary ornaments for the adoration and celebration of the gods in all regions of the world, including Mexico; territory with a rich variety of masks for parties that involve mostly dances. 

This project was realized based on the creation of masks from materials founded on the areas near the two spots I visited, Oaxaca Valley and San Agustinillo (Oaxaca’s Coast), such as pieces of wood, mud, shells, bones, feathers and other waste.

Custom made masks and photography by Gustavo García-Villa.

*ÁNIMAS — Souls, spirits.