Maria Martinez-Cañas’s artistic careerhas been distinguished by questioningconventional practices in the field ofconceptual photography. Her photomontagesoften incorporate texts, maps, charts, andother sources of empirical data. The collageform in effect subverts these systems ofknowledge, converting them from concrete andcomprehensible forms into something allusive,poetic, and mysterious.When Martínez-Cañas came to the UnitedStates in 1978 at the age of 18, her feelingsof dislocation intensified as she found herselfin a primarily English-speaking milieu with aclimate and attitude quite different from herCaribbean upbringing. The desire to locatereality under these new conditions and mapout her experience was vital. Charting origins,tracing identity, and recording the historyof migration and displacement were at theforefront of her artistic practice.Martínez-Cañas’s work continues to addressthe very same notions she has exploredthroughout the trajectory of her career. Shownhere for the first time, these unconventionalphoto-assemblages reveal her intuitive,aleatory, yet highly deliberate process.
