Self Portraits — Uber Land und Meer: Alice In Wonderland

Sandra Martinez 2022

First edition of 50 archival pigment prints.

Painting an old book pages freeze me from potential blocks surrounding precious materials. The books themselves are past their prime in the antique market- when they come to me, I give them another life. I handle fragile fragments of someone else's work, enshrined and shadow boxes, they are laden with paint, dirt, and layers of meaning... They take another bow. Whatever it means readable is a nod to chance, everyone's collaborator .

The process always has something to teach me. Uber Land und Meer, proved to be in an 1893 German periodical that celebrated the world. Full page, lavish illustrations explored every corner of the globe. Marvelous works done at the height of pictorial engraving before the camera took things by storm. As literacy increased in the 19th century, people were hungry for stories and giddy for a glimpse of the broad range of human experience.

We live in different times, " Other" is openly feared, rejected and abused. Can we bring loving curiosity when you look into anothers eyes?I produced this body of work while living in my new studio, surrounded by boxes, patiently dreaming of moving into the house and reclaiming the workspace. Step by step, we get to where we need to be. By chance,( the way so many good things come...) I had just been given a suite of inks made from natural plants, indigo, Quebrancho, pomegranate, Brazil, wood,, silver, cassia, and buckthorn which made this a dreamy painting session with layers of pencils, inks, squash, acrylic mixed with the Adobe dirt from my new home. I began by cladding. By cladding, the faces, mapping out transitions, wonderings, growth, and crisis. And always, mapping gratitude. For the ancestors, and the web of loving support that keeps the human going in spite of it all.

19 x 13”

Packed in mylar and foamcore backed