Milagros de la Torre’s work is developed as part of a systematic and sustained research process over three decades, investigating critical issues linked to Latin American social, moral and cultural consciousness, producing a corpus of works that appeals to multiple and refined visual resources that are immortalized in the photographs, a point of view that questions, denounces and evidences a reality crossed by both physical and psychological violence exerted by States as well as by individuals themselves, through their daily acts of marginalization and submission. Creative processes where the artist is actively involved assisting, reviewing, reflecting in situ, to find the exact ways that they apply to each work so that the photographic image can poetically capture a reality loaded with a dramatic intensity that inevitably compromises the affects. Psychological violence, fragility of bodies and minds are reflected in series that combine a double operation: on one hand, the dehumanization of people, the denial of identity, their nameless profile cut out of history, their objectification. And on the other hand, the choice of objects whose single presence denotes aggressiveness, fear, terror, presented as a kind of “human portraits”, isolated, highlighting the beauty inherent in their forms. The photographic support offers Milagros de la Torre the necessary versatility to convey through forceful images -which never lose sight of the obsessive study of archive sources- a must that governs all her work: it is the inherent wealth of the photographic processes and the way in which the artist presents a cryptic work that is revealed in the forcefulness of the details, which is present both in the forms and in the contents. The poetics of her work offers us contemporary readings in dialogue with others of yesteryear, crossed by a characteristic use of dramatic effects enabled by the magisterial use of chiaroscuro, the leading role of the uncertain emphasized in each work where the technique reinsures the doubt by posing scenarios of ambiguous nature, the photographic texture that takes on a material presence making the weft quasi-tangible and all bathed in a color palette that highlights the accent on the conceptual axis in favor of questioning perception, forcing us to reflect on what we see , how we see and what we choose to see or deny.
Milagros de la Torre (Lima, Perú, 1965) es una artista visual con base en New York que trabaja con un acercamiento conceptual el medio fotográfico desde 1991. Estudio Ciencias de la Comunicación en la Universidad de Lima y recibió el B.A. (Hons) en Artes Fotográficas del London College of Printing, Reino Unido. Recibió la beca Guggenheim en Artes Creativas, Fotografía en 2011 y la beca Dora Maar, The Brown Foundation en 2014, la beca de artista de la Rockefeller Foundation y los Premios de Fotografía Romeo Martinez y el Premio Jóvenes Creadores de Iberoamérica (en la categoría de Fotografía) por su serie ‘Los pasos perdidos’, 1996. En 2003, su libro de artista Trouble de la Vue (París: Toluca Editions) fue publicado con texto de José Manuel Prieto y diseño de Pierre Charpin.
Su trabajo ha sido reseñado en publicaciones como Art in America, The New Yorker, Wall St. Journal, The Guardian, Sección Artes, London, TIME Magazine, Beaux Arts Magazine, París, Jeu de Paume Museum Magazine, París, ArtNexus, Arte al Dia, EXIT Magazine, Atlántica Journal, España entre otros. ‘Milagros de la Torre, Fotografías 1991-2011’, una extensa monografía fue recientemente publicada por RM Editorial, (México/Barcelona), Toluca Editions (París) y Ediciones Lariviére (Argentina) con texto de Marta Gili, directora del Jeu de Paume en París.
Su trabajo ha sido expuesto en instituciones tales como: Palais de Tokyo, Centre National de la Photographie, París; The International Center of Photography, N.Y.; El Museo del Barrio, N.Y.; The Art Institute of Chicago; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Phoenix Art Museum; Arizona Art Museum of the Americas, Washington DC.; Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, París; FotoFest International, Houston; Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid; Casa de América, Madrid; Fotobienal de Vigo; Fundación la Caixa, Barcelona; Centro de la Imagen, México Fotoseptiembre, México; Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil, México; Museo de Arte Moderno, México; Museo MARCO, Monterrey; Museo Oscar Niemeyer, Brazil; III Mes Internacional da Fotografía, Sao Paulo; Itaú Cultural, Sao Paulo; Kunstforeningen, Dinamarca; Centro Cultural Recoleta, Buenos Aires; II Johanesbourg Biennale, Sud Africa; VI Bienal de La Habana, Cuba; Institute of Contemporary Art, Londres; Photographers Gallery, Londres; Sala Alcalá 31 de la Comunidad de Madrid, Madrid; Museo de Arte de Lima, MALI, Perú. Su obra ha sido catalogada en importantes publicaciones líderes tanto nacionales e internacionales.
Su obra forma parte de colecciones privadas y públicas, entre ellas: The Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois, Museum of Latin American Art, Los Angeles, El Museo del Barrio, New York, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Harvard Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachussetts, Yale University, New York, Princeton University Art Museum, New Jersey, Ruby City, The Linda Pace Foundation, Texas, Diane and Bruce Halle Collection. Phoenix, Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts, The Essex Collection of Latin American Art, Reino Unido, The Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence, F.N.A.C., Fonds National d’Art Contemporain, París, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, Fundación ARCO, Madrid, Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil, México , Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires, MALBA, Buenos Aires, Museo de Arte de Lima, Perú, Museo di Fotografia, San Marino, Universidad de Salamanca, España.
Milagros de la Torre is a New York based artist working with a conceptual approach to the photographic medium since 1991. She studied Communications Sciences at the University of Lima and received a B.A. (Hons) in Photographic Arts, University of the Arts London. Her first solo exhibition (1993), curated by Robert Delpire, was presented at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris. In 1995, she was an artist in residence at the Cité des Arts and worked as a curatorial assistant in the Photography Department at the Musée Carnavalet, Paris.
She received the Rockefeller Foundation Artist Grant and was awarded the Romeo Martinez Photography Prize and the Young Ibero-American Creators Prize for her series The Lost Steps (1998).
She was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship (2011), The Dora Maar Fellowship, The Brown Foundation (2014), The Peter S. Reed Foundation Award in Photography (2016), The Sustainable Arts Foundation Residency Grant (2020) and was the recipient of a ‘Merited Person of Culture Medal’ from the Ministry of Culture in Peru (2016).
In 2003, her artist book Trouble de la Vue was published by Toluca Editions, Paris. The Americas Society, N.Y. presented Observed, a solo exhibition curated by Prof. Edward J. Sullivan. The Museo de Arte de Lima (MALI) honored her with Indicios, a mid-career survey exhibition (2012) curated by Prof. Sullivan.
She has been a resident artist at the The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, Tisch NYU, Artpace, San Antonio and is currently a visiting faculty member at the Bard MFA program. She has given artist lectures at Columbia University; The Getty Research Institute; The International Center of Photography; The Institute of Fine Arts, New York University; Parsons, The New School; The School of Visual Arts; The SMFA, Tufts University; Hunter College; The Americas Society; El Museo del Barrio; Penumbra Foundation; Scripps College; Syracuse University; Phoenix Art Museum; Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico; Center for Contemporary Studies, University of Barcelona; Museo de Arte de Lima, MALBA Museum, Argentina.
Her work has been exhibited broadly and is part of permanent museum collections including: The Art Institute of Chicago; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; The Blanton Museum of Art, Austin; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge; Princeton University Art Museum, New Jersey; Yale University, New Haven; MIT List Visual Arts Center, Boston; El Museo del Barrio, New York; The RISD Museum, Providence; Ruby City, The Linda Pace Foundation, Texas; Diane and Bruce Halle Collection, Phoenix; Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts; Fonds National d’Art Contemporain, Paris; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid; Essex Collection of Art from Latin America, U.K.; Universidad de Salamanca, Spain; Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil, Mexico; Museo de Arte de Lima, MALI, Peru; Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Argentina; MALBA Museum, Argentina.
De la Torre’s work has been reviewed by Art in America, The New Yorker, ARTFORUM, Frieze Magazine, Wall St. Journal, The New York Times, The Guardian, TIME Magazine, Public Radio International, Broadly, Beaux Arts Magazine, Jeu de Paume Magazine, EXIT Magazine, ArtNexus, Arte al Día, Atlantica Journal.
Fotografía
Políptico (“Colgador”, “Media”, “Medias alargadas”, “Medias”
Impresión gelatina de plata sobre papel AGFA PORTRIGA Rapid Paper
Año 1992
Copia de época
Dimensiones de la imagen | 10 x 5 cm c/u.
Fotografía
Políptico (“Colgador”, “Media”, “Medias alargadas”, “Medias”
Impresión gelatina de plata sobre papel AGFA PORTRIGA Rapid Paper
Año 1992
Copia de época
Dimensiones de la imagen | 10 x 5 cm c/u.
Fotografía
Políptico (“Colgador”, “Media”, “Medias alargadas”, “Medias”
Impresión gelatina de plata sobre papel AGFA PORTRIGA Rapid Paper
Año 1992
Copia de época
Dimensiones de la imagen | 10 x 5 cm c/u.
Fotografía
Políptico (“Colgador”, “Media”, “Medias alargadas”, “Medias”
Impresión gelatina de plata sobre papel AGFA PORTRIGA Rapid Paper
Año 1992
Copia de época
Dimensiones de la imagen | 10 x 5 cm c/u.
Fotografía
Políptico (“Colgador”, “Media”, “Medias alargadas”, “Medias”
Impresión gelatina de plata sobre papel AGFA PORTRIGA Rapid Paper
Año 1992
Copia de época
Dimensiones de la imagen | 10 x 5 cm c/u.
Fotografía
Políptico (“Colgador”, “Media”, “Medias alargadas”, “Medias”
Impresión gelatina de plata sobre papel AGFA PORTRIGA Rapid Paper
Año 1992
Copia de época
Dimensiones de la imagen | 10 x 5 cm c/u.
Fotografía
Políptico (“Colgador”, “Media”, “Medias alargadas”, “Medias”
Impresión gelatina de plata sobre papel AGFA PORTRIGA Rapid Paper
Año 1992
Copia de época
Dimensiones de la imagen | 10 x 5 cm c/u.
Under the black sun (Lady) | Bajo el sol negro, (Señora), 1991-1993
Hand-painted toned print silver gelatin, mercurochrome. Variable dimensions
Retoque manual sobre impresión virada de plata sobre gelatina, mercuriocromo.
Dimensiones variables
Under the black sun, (Diptych, couple) | Bajo el sol negro, (Díptico, pareja), 1991-1993
Hand-painted toned gelatin silver prints, mercurochrome. Variable dimensions
Retoque manual sobre impresión virada de plata sobre gelatina, mercuriocromo.
Dimensiones variables
Under the black sun, (Diptych, front-profile) | Bajo el sol negro, (Díptico, frente-perfíl), 1991-1993
Hand-painted toned gelatin silver prints, mercurochrome. Variable dimensions
Retoque manual sobre impresión virada de plata sobre gelatina, mercuriocromo.
Dimensiones variables
Under the black sun, (Diptych, couple, pin) | Bajo el sol negro, (Díptico, pareja, alfiler), 1991-1993
Hand-painted toned gelatin silver prints, mercurochrome, pin.
Variable dimensions
Retoque manual sobre impresión virada de plata sobre gelatina, mercuriocromo, alfiler.
Dimensiones variables
Under the black sun, (Boy) | Bajo el sol negro, (Niño), 1991-1993
Hand-painted toned gelatin silver print, mercurochrome. Variable dimensions
Retoque manual sobre impresión virada de plata sobre gelatina, mercuriocromo.
Dimensiones variables
Under the black sun. Poliptych | Bajo el sol negro. Políptico, 1991-1993
Hand-painted toned gelatin silver prints, mercurochrome. Variable dimensions
Retoque manual sobre impresión virada de plata sobre gelatina, mercuriocromo.
Dimensiones variables
Under the black sun,(Flag) | Bajo el sol negro, (Bandera), 1991-1993
Hand-painted toned gelatin silver print, mercurochrome, ribbon. Variable dimensions
Retoque manual sobre impresión virada de plata sobre gelatina, mercuriocromo, cinta.
Dimensiones variables
Bullets, confiscated ammunition. | Balas, municiones confiscadas., 1996
Toned gelatin silver print
16 x 16 in.
Edition of 15
Impresión virada de plata sobre gelatina
40 x 40 cm.
Edición de 15
Handgun, incriminating evidence of murder | Pistola, prueba incriminatoria de asesinato, 1996
Photography
Vintage print
Toned gelatin silver print on Agfa Portriga Rapid paper
15,8 x 15,8 in
Edition 15 + A/P
Fotografía
Copia de época
Impresión virada de plata sobre gelatina
40 x 40 cm
Edición 15 + A/P
Skirt worn by Marita Alpaca when she was thrown by her lover from the 8th floor of the Sheraton Hotel in Lima. She was found to be pregnant at the autopsy. | Falda que usaba Marita Alpaca en el momento de ser arrojada por su amante del 8vo piso del Hotel Sheraton en Lima. En la autopsia fue encontrada embarazada., 1996
Toned gelatin silver print
16 x 16 in.
Edition of 15
Impresión virada de plata sobre gelatina
40 x 40 cm.
Edición de 15
Crudely fabricated knife confiscated as evidence. | Cuchillo improvisado confiscado como evidencia., 1996
Toned gelatin silver print
16 x 16 in.
Edition of 15
Impresión virada de plata sobre gelatina
40 x 40 cm.
Edición de 15
Shirt of journalist murdered in the Uchuraccay Massacre, Ayacucho. | Camisa de periodista asesinado en la masacre de Uchuraccay, Ayacucho., 1996
Toned gelatin silver print
16 x 16 in.
Edition of 15
Impresión virada de plata sobre gelatina
40 x 40 cm.
Edición de 15
Crowbar, tool used to force entry. | Pata de cabra, herramienta utilizada para forzar la entrada., 1996
Toned gelatin silver print
16 x 16 in.
Edition of 15
Impresión virada de plata sobre gelatina
40 x 40 cm.
Edición de 15
Rudimentary weapon made from broken bottle and paper. | Arma básica obtenida del fondo de una botella y papel., 1996
Toned gelatin silver print
16 x 16 in.
Edition of 15
Impresión virada de plata sobre gelatina
40 x 40 cm.
Edición de 15
Police identification mask of criminal known as “Loco Perochena” | Máscara de identificación de un criminal conocido como “Loco Perochena”, 1996
Photography
Toned gelatin silver print on Agfa Portriga Rapid paper
15,8 x 15,8 in
Edition 15 + A/P
Fotografía
Impresión virada de plata sobre gelatina
40 x 40 cm
Edición 15 + A/P
Fake police ID used by terrorist. | Falso carnet de identificación policial usado por terrorista., 1996
Toned gelatin silver print
16 x 16 in.
Edition of 15
Impresión virada de plata sobre gelatina
40 x 40 cm.
Edición de 15
Confiscated weapond from maximum security prison | Armas confiscadas de prisión de máxima seguridad, 1996
Photography
Toned gelatin silver print on Agfa Portriga Rapid paper
15,8 x 15,8 in
Edition 15 + A/P
Fotografía
Impresión virada de plata sobre gelatina
40 x 40 cm
Edición 15 + A/P
Chemical test to identify cocaine chlorohydrate produced in a clandestine laboratory. | Prueba química de reconocimiento de clorhidrato de cocaína hecha en laboratorio clandestino., 1996
Toned gelatin silver print
16 x 16 in.
Edition of 15
Impresión virada de plata sobre gelatina
40 x 40 cm.
Edición de 15
Improvised knife made from prison bed frame | Cuchillo improvisado del catre de la cama en prisión, 1996
Photography
Toned gelatin silver print on Agfa Portriga Rapid paper
15,8 x 15,8 in
Edition 15 + A/P
Fotografía
Impresión virada de plata sobre gelatina
40 x 40 cm
Edición 15 + A/P
Incriminating love letter written by prostitute to her lover. | Carta de amor incriminante escrita por prostituta a su amante., 1996
Toned gelatin silver print
16 x 16 in.
Edition of 15
Impresión virada de plata sobre gelatina
40 x 40 cm.
Edición de 15
Belts used by a psycologist Mario Poggi to strangle a rapist during police interrogation | Cinturones que utilizó el psicólogo Mario Poggi para estrangular a un violador durante el interrogatorio policial , 1996
Photography
Toned gelatin silver print on Agfa Portriga Rapid paper
15,8 x 15,8 in
Edition 15 + A/P
Fotografía
Impresión virada de plata sobre gelatina
40 x 40 cm
Edición 15 + A/P
Flag confiscated from Shining Path terrorist | Bandera incautada a terrorista de Sendero Luminoso, 1996
Photography
Toned gelatin silver print on Agfa Portriga Rapid paper
15,8 x 15,8 in
Edition 15 + A/P
Fotografía
Impresión virada de plata sobre gelatina
40 x 40 cm
Edición 15 + A/P
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