Rosa Maria Baquero Santacruz
Currently leaving in Windhoek- Nambia
Mobile: 081 639 0734
Website:www.larosart.com
Facebook:www.facebook.com/larosabaquero
Blog: www.larosartblog.com
Artist’s statement
My work has involved the exploration of the response between human beings and the environment in three distinct locations: born in Colombia, lived in New Zealand and moved to Namibia in 2013.
The artwork investigates and comments on themes of social and individual responsibility and the consequences of human separation from their surroundings. I have engaged subjects such as coffee production, oil spills, street rubbish, reconstruction of past events and peasant urban cultivations. My methodology is varied and comes from what is available. I enjoy the spontaneity of creating from what is already there. The art is a product of the interaction between my development and the changing space around me. The thread is unprompted interface which provides insight into what it is to connect.
Education
2006 Master in Fine Arts , Instutituto Departamental de Bellas Artes, Cali, Colombia
Exhibitions
2013 Product of Colombia ( Solo exhibition)
Matchbox Studios, Wellington, New Zealand
2012 City of Children (Solo exhibition)
Thistle Hall, Wellington, New Zealand
2012 National Art Exhibition Napier, New Zealand
2007 Photoshop, Exhibiton, Thistle Hall, Wellington, New Zealand
2004 Original y copia (installation) Culture Centre, Cali, Colombia
Reshown at Hall National of Artist 39, Bogota, Colombia
2003 Imprints that Tracks Leave (engraving exhibition) Instituto Dep de Bellas Artes, Cali, Colombia
2002 Art at the Plaza Plaza of Nariño, Pasto, Colombia
2002 Female Sights 2 Palatino Culture Centre, University of Nariño, Pasto, Colombia
2001 Collective Exhibition of Painters, Prisma Cine-Arte, Pasto, Colombia
About La Rosa
I am a Wellington-based contemporary artist who spent the first 26 years of my life living in the Andres mountains living in a strong community with a deep connection with the environment. I then moved to a big city and became aware of the social issues facing people in Colombia. Since moving overseas I have lived in New Zealand, United Kingdom and Namibia which has made me aware of the disconnection between people and their environment in other countries.
I express myself through many images including barbed wire, pigeon spikes, portraits of pigeons, disenfranchised wild animals. I have particular sympathy for pigeons as they are treated like vermin but are as much a part of the world as humans. Pigeons represent marginalised groups against which we discriminate. I also identify with Wombles. Their community focus and care for the environment is something that I admire. I womble in a variety of ways, often reusing what I find and incorporating it into my art including plastic bags, coffee sacks, dried paint.
My work is primitive and continuously references my childhood and ancestry. Art is my therapy and I use it to connect with myself, other people and the environment.