Lily Pads, Archival Pigment Print, 2010
ARTIST STATEMENT
In the Lily Pads photograph, a manatee in a museum is surrounded by the simulacra of its natural habitat– bright plastic plants, a painted blue sky and a thick plexiglass sheet as water. The photograph highlights the tension created between the artificial environment and the animal’s natural habitat, in order to show the construction of an idealized nature. Despite the museum’s efforts to design dioramas that make the spectators feel as if they were looking at the natural world, it is impossible to hide the human presence.
THE ARTIST
Diana Sanchez is a photographer born in Bogota, Colombia. She explores with her camera the relationship between humans and the natural world. In 2004, Diana was a recipient of a Undergraduate Creative Activities and Research Experiences grant, which helped complete a project about circus animals titled, Circus: A Guilty Pleasure? Diana graduated with a BFA from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2006. She is currently working towards her MA/MFA at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she continues to research through photography the natural world and humans.
Site: www.diana-sanchez.com
Blog: www.sanchez-dianam.blogspot.com