I am Vertical is a conceptual body of work exploring identity issues through appearances memories and the relationship between reality and fiction.
The series forms a subjective narrative in which each photograph functions as an allegory of a specific feeling, all expressed through the staging of various inanimate objects.
Based on the artist's childhood, this body of work aims at representing this particular period of time during which family relationships are extremely tensed and often conflicting. The latter focuses particularly on the rivalry between mother and daughter and the rejection of the maternal to which such primitive hostility inevitably leads. In such a situation, the natural bond that unites mother and child has been disrupted. As a result, the daughter questions her position within a family from which she feels rejected and to which she can no longer identify herself.
I Am Vertical works as a self-analysis, a reflection on frustrating times and the claustrophobia of family life. Although very personal, this project makes direct references to traditional psychoanalytic theories, most particularly Freud's Oedipal dynamics and Carl Jung's Electra Complex which have shaped our understanding of family relationships and early infantile anxiety.
Alexandra Serrano is a French-Mexican photographer. Recent First Class graduate, she holds a Master degree in Photographic Studies from Westminster University.
Her practice is mainly autobiographical and self-reflective, tackling themes such as those of family, childhood and memory. Her work features in various publications and has been exhibited in both group and solo exhibitions across London. Serrano is part of the Intimate Space project organised by the Brazilian artist Georgia Creimer, for the 2012 Youth Olympic Games. Her latest project, Between Finger and Thumb will be exhibited at the Festival Circulations(s) in Paris in March 2012, as well as in Montpelier as part of the International Festival of Contemporary Photography (Boutographies), which will take place in June this year.
