Sentimientos Anónimos IV – (Anonymous Feelings IV)
Karla Acuna Vela
2016
48 cm x 33 cm
Digital print on 100% press natural cotton (fine print art)
Ed. 10
The photo “Sentimientos Anónimos IV” (Anonymous Feelings IV) is part of the series “Grito Silenciado” (Silenced Scream) from 2016. Most of the photos are taken at cemeteries. Karla found the motif for “Anonymous Feelings IV” in the oldest part of one of the largest cemeteries in Europe, the “Cementerio de la Almudena” in Madrid, Spain.
However, the chosen picture section doesn’t permit not directly to identify a sepulchre. It could be as well another stone monument. But on closer inspection, one might find hints to the origin: the background is formed by a weathered stone relief and shows on the left side a poppy with its capsule. Since the antiquity, the poppy is the symbol for sleep (Hypnos) and his brother dead (Thanatos) because of its soporific and intoxicating effect. Furthermore, the poppy capsule with its numerous seeds allegorises the resurrection. Due to this symbolism, poppies are to be found often on gravestones.
From the right upper image border enters a stone arm into the photo, so that the hand is placed in the centre of the picture. The arm has a similar bending like the poppy. In the fingers, there is a fresh, bright red carnation. This flower attracts the eye of the viewer to focus on it, even though it is besides the centre point of the image. It is the contrast between the weathered, grey stone and the flashing red, an antagonism between inanimate and animate nature and the more allegoric opposition between dead and life.
In placing the incidentally found carnation into the hand of the sculpture, Karla wanted to involve the observer into a reflexion about the mysterious of life, its end and what could be after the end. Philosophers and theologians are giving different answers to this complex problem. Many religions belief that the death is only a state of transformation into another form of life, like the poppy underlines. Karla constitutes a stage for an inner and outer conversation about the feelings that can be formed anonymously.
Karla Acuna Vela
Born 1967 in Guatemala City, Guatemala, Karla grew up in a family with a rich artistic background. Her ancestors were architects, choreographers, dancers, poets or writers. In consequence, she got early in contact with a creative and humanist environment and started take photos in the early age of nine years. 1993 she moved to Madrid, Spain, where she worked as cultural attaché at the Guatemalan Embassy.
Karla’s experience in an artistic atmosphere, led her to express herself as artist. Besides photographer, she is as well poetry writer. Supplementary to her autodidactic experience, she frequented several workshops for photography, inter alia with the photojournalist Ángel López Soto. In addition, she studied the works of other artists. She is in particular influenced by Julia Margaret Cameron – early pioneer of photo-portraits in the 19th century, Vivian Maier with regard to Street Photography and the contemporary Mexican visual artist and photographer Yamina del Real. Furthermore, she always has a glance to other disciplines, especially to paintings by Frida Kahlo and Edward Hopper. Only exposing since 2014, Karla had several personal and group exhibitions in Guatemala and the United States.
The photo series “Silenced Scream”, which includes our artwork of the month December “Sentimientos Anónimos IV”, is inspired by the creations of the Guatemalan painter Roberto Ossaye (1927-1954). First of all the series is a dialog the artist does with herself about her feelings concerning the great enigma of life. Through the photos, Karla likes to invite the observer to reflect on his/her own emotions in exchange with the picture. It could be an encounter with feelings of responsibility, indignation, justice, vulnerability and truth. They could be activated by a personal the image transcending meditation.