CURATORIAL STATEMENT The toy is the recipient of our subjectivity... it is an entity capable of becoming, through us, either banal or significant. Every emotional relation with a toy is our creation; its sense, its intention and its weight depend on us. —Liliana Porter Liliana Porter's mural, Elenco, plays with the traditional photographic genres of still life and studio portraiture. In this work, toys and tourist souvenirs are used to create an alternate world of meaningful relationships among diverse characters. The toys and objects are lit and photographed in a non-dramatic way and situated in solid color fields that mimic portrait photographers' backdrops. With great simplicity, Elenco speaks to issues raised by the cultural diversity of present-day society; the undercurrents of cultural tourism facilitated by the globalization of culture and information; while suggesting an optimistic overtone of playful simultaneity and cultural understanding. Porter began her studies of printmaking in Mexico City at the Universidad Iberoamericana in 1961, and graduated from the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes Buenos Aires in 1963. In 1964 she moved to New York City where she created social commentary through Pop imagery. Although primarily a printmaker and painter, photography has been a point of departure for her work, as have children's toys and kitsch objects. Her work is conceptual, playing with reality, illusion, and memories. Her main inspiration comes from her own childhood memories, American pop-icons, and Jorge Luis Borges. ARTIST STATEMENT There is a theatrical quality to my latest works. The persons/objects seem to be part of a theater troupe. They come from diverse backgrounds, but they are able to co-exist within a virtual space from where they confront us. These inanimate characters play out roles assigned to them by our gaze. They speak to me of non-linear time, of a different order of things, of the possibility of communication that is more complicated and rich and perhaps more hopeful. — Liliana Porter