Provenance Gallery is pleased to present Family Happiness, an exhibition featuring the work of Allison Valdivia.
By viewing old family photos as artifacts, Valdivia creates her own stories, projecting hidden philosophies based on personal experience, on what she sees in the object before her, and from the lack of family history shared with her. She asks the questions: What is a family? What makes a family? The photo presents and depicts the idea, but by asking these questions, Valdivia goes beyond the surface of the image of the “happy family” by playing up particular emotions hidden within the photo. Valdivia aims to find her answers by creating images that depict a story forgotten or withheld.
“I often find myself looking to the past, looking to my family and culture to find a sense of who I am. As a Latina, I feel a sense of guilt at times that I didn’t grow up knowing about my culture, about my family’s history. Growing up a military brat and an artist, I have felt a lot of pressure from my family, as I have strayed far from their concept of the ideal. In response to their rejection, I have felt an absence: myself in their lives, and them in mine. I am fascinated by the idea of motherhood, the relationship between a mother and a child, and the impact that the relationship has on both individuals. I am fascinated by both the idea of family and lack of family. Coming from a broken family, I try to see all perspectives, from the hurt child with the lack of the parent to the parent without a child.”
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Allison C. Valdivia is a visual artist and former military brat who found her way to San Antonio, Texas. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at the University of Texas in San Antonio, graduating in the Spring of 2016 with a concentration in Painting/Drawing and a minor in Art History. Her work has been exhibited throughout San Antonio at R Space, High Wire Art Gallery, and The San Antonio Art League Museum. She was featured in UTSA’s College of Liberal and Fine Art’s 30th, 31st and 32nd Student Art Exhibition at UTSA’s main gallery. Recent exhibitions include Print Austin’s “The Contemporary Print” exhibition at Flatbed Press + Gallery, curated by Mary Heathcott, executive director of Blue Star Contemporary Art Museum and Delta National Small Print Exhibition at Bradbury Art Museum, Jonesboro, Arkansas, jurored by Dennis Michael Jon, Associate Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
Artist’s Website: www.allisonvaldivia.com
Exhibition will be on view until September 30th, by appointment.
For more information, please contact Stephanie Torres at stephtorressa@gmail.com.
