fellows

GUARDIA NACIONAL, 2019, Deslave, Tijuana, MX (Photo by Mariel Miranda)

Diana Cantarey (1994) is an artist and fact-ion designer from Mexico City, currently based in Amsterdam. She was supposed to be born the day that Colosio, a Mexican presidential candidate, was killed, so her mother freaked out and she was born two days later. The consequential lack of oxygen caused her to have epileptic seizures from time to time. They obtained their Bachelor of Philosophy degree from the Universidad del Claustro de Sor Juana, CDMX (2016). Her practice caresses the borders between art, fashion, film and theory. Recent projects include the development of the collective docu-fictional film Cráter with the support of the Mexican Institute of Cinematography (2018-2022), the curatorship and coordination of the Tres Peso$ Triennale, Mexico City (2020) and the propaedeutic fashion project DICEALGO, CDMX (2017-2019).

Active member of different collective art initiatives like the production house El Colegio de la Desextinción (MX), the De-reading Group of decolonial studies (NL) and the jamming band Tropical Tap Water (NL).

Lately she’s been trying to find the spell to turn oil into dinosaurs and enjoys playing the bass.

Artist's website and Instagram.

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1. Guardia Nacional otoño-invierno 2019, 2019, performance, sound piece and camouflage-QR military textile, Tijuana, MX, Photo by Mariel Miranda; 2. Soskilsaurus Chicxulubensis, 2020, piece of El Colegio de la Desextinción, character and camera stand, Espacio Taliare, Mérida, MX; 3. La Casta Divina, 2020, still from the film 'Cráter' of El Colegio de la Desextinción, Yucatán, MX; 4. La Casta Divina, 2020, digital collage; 5. Sisal drone, 2020, Digital collage; 6. Somos sombra, 2019, shooting for DICEALGO, Styling and photo by Gio Cabriales, CDMX; 7. Nación Desextinción, 2020, acrylic painting; 8. Tour Bio-lencia, 2020, origami collage. 9. Haut-et Couture, 2019, photo sublimation of women bodies, collaboration with Ileana Moreno, Photo by Lizeth Trinidad.
Artist statement

Why do we produce art when the end of the world is already happening? What images would foster de-extinction processes? What would the art of a ‘degrowing’ economy look like? What other “ends of the world” are possible?

Having a background in philosophy, my artistic practice is based on creating questions around extinction, excess and exploitation, to which I offer aesthetic answers: “fact-ions”. Through the concept of “fact-ion” (facts+fiction) I acknowledge that true fictions eradicate false reality. My interest in orbiting these questions through aesthetic fact-ions stems from my belief in the existence of spell-images, capable of transmuting the colonial fossils, which as fuels, feed the machinery of extinction.

My work is based on long research processes, both documentary and participatory. Although my pieces start from writing and drawing, and take the form of textiles, performance and video-documentaries, it is in their collaborative and relational aspect that their value resides. Understanding that answers and solutions cannot be obtained individually and in isolation, collaboration, listening and caring play a fundamental role in my projects, in which I raise questions that should be answered collectively.

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