Ultraviolet Art Talks Season 11 EP07 Victoria Cantons
On this episode, Caren Sullivan talks to artist Victoria Cantons in 2022.Victoria Cantons’ ongoing preoccupation with metaphysical themes; concepts of time, memory and personal identity lends her works their multi-layered subject matter, fuelled by a variety of historical and literary sources as well as her experiences being raised in a multicultural and multi-religious home, and being a gay and transgender woman. She was an only child to European immigrants who had both experienced war in the countries they had come from –her mother was from Madrid and Catholic, and her father was French Algerian born to Russian-Jewish and Basque parents. As a result Cantons has had memories of being different from the outset and the ability to accept, declare and celebrate oneself is an ongoing journey that for her, has been littered with mental anguish, trauma, and scars.Cantons’ artistic output is presented in multiple mediums including painting, neon, poetry, text, performance, photographs and videos and sculpture. Cantons often uses text in the body of her work, and further probes language in her titles. At the core of the practice is an investigation of eternal questions: What is my position in the world? What are the nature of our relationships? And what is our purpose?Her concept led work is autobiographical and confessional with political undercurrents and takes inspiration from art history, there are also references to religion, notably Christianity and Buddhism, philosophy, science and the classics. There is no creative formula, Cantons has an exploratory way of working. In the studio her questions are explored embracing experimentation, inspired spontaneity and discovery. There is a degree of surprise and unexpectedness in the work.Cantons seeks to make sense of the world around her. The work deals with issues of the individual’s freedom, how people shape their beliefs, and the notion of who the individual can be. There is a search for confrontation with our internal schisms, and a lack of concern with “likability”. It’s about confronting what makes a person conflicted. Cantons has previously stated: “How can art allow the richness of the inner life to speak for itself? Art is a form of resistance, a way to reassess memory, to remember but also to reinvent, and that within these boundaries the truth can be alternately distorted or clarified.”Cantons also considers her work to be an abstract self-portrait of sorts, with references to both her own personal history and histories of art that inform and inflect her work. On the subject of her identity Cantons has said: “I’m an artist, I'm a woman, I'm transgender, I'm labeled a trans (female, if I’m lucky) artist, but that trans-ness or any other aspect of my identity –the fact that I have a multi-national, cultural and religious background because of my parents and my upbringing– can't be tokenised”… to paraphrase the artist Alvaro Barrington: “I’m hoping that it becomes about an all-encompassing humanity and that it's also very individualised. I think a lot of people unfortunately have been pigeonholed into presenting their identity in a tokenised way, as the only thing that they can offer to the public’s imagination.”Upcoming solo shows2025Title to be Announced, Niru Ratnam Gallery, London (UPCOMING Opens 5th June)The Hour Before Sunrise / La Hora Bruja, cur. Christian Dominguez, Tube Gallery, Palma de Mallorca (UPCOMING Opens 21st March)Follow Ultraviolet Art Talks @_ultravioletarttalksFor more information, follow Victoria Cantons @victoriacantons Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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