Michelle Girardello, "Negotiations"

Artist Statement

This generation of queers is redefining the traditional understanding of family, home, and marriage; we are in a state of in-between. This work facilitated the creation of my own home and self, envisioning possible futures for myself. My practice surveys a personal and collective trauma of the past to question how the queer body navigates hetro-normative behavior. The digital pinhole camera designed for the Domestic Pinhole Series, mirrors the marrying of historical processes through the contemporary lens. Deception also plays a large role in my work - the integration of miniature objects/spaces confuse the viewer's perception of what they’re looking at.

Artist Bio

Michelle Girardello is a lens based from Brooklyn, NY. She received her MFA from the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York City in 2019 and her BFA from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida in 2008. Girardello’s been involved in art education for over a decade. She taught portfolio development classes at Bakehouse Art Complex for high school students and from 2010-2017 she was the Director of the Creative Photography Program at Miami Arts Charter School in Miami, FL.

In 2019 Girardello received full funding to attend Chautauqua School of Art Residency. She has exhibited in NYC, including at the SVA Flatiron Gallery, ARTpartment, and Revelation Gallery. Other exhibitions include Katonah Museum of Art, Noyes Museum of Art, Yadegaren Art Gallery in Kerman, Iran, and in south Florida at Dina Mitrani Gallery in Miami, Girls Club in Fort Lauderdale, and at Satellite Art Show during Art Basel.

Drawer 3- Negotiations, Pigment Ink on Paper, 11x 17 inches, 2019, $260.