Chilean photography artist Margarita Dittborn is opening her first major solo exhibition in Hong Kong in Connoisseur Contemporary. Born in Santiago, Chile in 1981 to a well-respected Chilean artist Eugenio Dittborn (b. 1943) whose work is collected by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York and Tate Museum in London, Margarita Dittborn has earned her own place in the art world as an emerging young photography artist; having won several awards including the “Best Chilean Photography Exhibition Prize 2008” at the Art Critics Circle Awards for her “Lovesick Woman” series and being featured in a directory of the top 500 young artists in the world, “Younger than Jesus”, published by the New Museum in New York, USA and Phaidon in 2009.
The theme of the show, as expressed in the title of her exhibition, explores hunger from various aspects. “Port of Hunger” is a literal translation of the name of a port “Puerto del Hambre” in Chile where Spanish settlers sought to colonise in the 16th century. The exhibition features Margarita Dittborn’s newest series, one of which is “Latente”, which touches on the hunger for relationships, love and even pain. Each work in this series has the shape of a heart and each heart is pierced with 7 swords; referencing The Virgin of Seven Sorrows; in relation to the sorrows in Blessed Virgin Mary’s life. The artist says, “I connected with the image of suffering, a universal theme. The figures that are formed in this montage are hearts and there are seven objects that refer to the seven Tears of the Virgin”.
Instead of passively dwelling on “negative” hunger, Margarita draws inspiration from her experience and creates a satirical work by donning her heart with candy and sweets, coated with chocolate and sprinkled with sugar. “It is a good pain”, she says. The use of such dessert, which is seen in other earlier series as well, touches on physical hunger. Food is another obsession of the artist. In another series “Feed Me” in this exhibition, physical hunger, the hunger for a mother-child bonding are inspired by and expressed through the artist’s two-year-old son who is seen in the works as well as “Latente II”.
Image: © Margarita Dittborn, Connoisseur Contemporary
