Rebecca Marimutu, "Portraits, Adhered #11"

Artist Statement

Portraits, Untitled 2021, treats the image of self as a landscape for abstraction and deconstruction while drawing on themes of isolation, self-examination. In my artistic practice, I work to reimagine the practice of portraiture and representation. By working with nontraditional methods and materials such as laserjet printers, copy and newsprint papers I address the material and political hierarchy of image-making. In my process I photograph myself in the studio, then I deconstruct the image. I then reconstruct them, layering them with other versions of myself with collage with adhesive. By adhering the pieces of myself back together layering different images I talk themes of self, identity, and material tactility through the photographic medium.

Artist Bio

My name is Rebecca Marimutu and I am interdisciplinary artist working to reimagine the practice of portraiture. My work explores themes of self, identity and material tactility through paper sculpture, collage and audio-visual abstraction.

My work draws on her experience as a multiracial woman born and raised in New York City. Informed by my research into critical race theory, as well as contemporary discussions around the dimensionality of the photograph, I work by concealing, obscuring and protecting that which lies within the frame.

I am currently an adjunct professor at Towson University. I received her MFA degree in Photographic and Electronic Media at the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2020, and her BS in Mathematics and Economics from the University of Albany with a minor in Studio Art. Her work has been shown at the Waller Gallery The Fredericks Art Council, and The Black Womans Museum in Baltimore MD.

“Portraits, Adhered #11," Archival Pigment Print, 13x 20, 2021, $200.