Mental Maps by Marina Font

Issue 100

Building on my previous series Dark Continents, I have continued to explore metaphorically the complexity of the human psyche and its inner threads in order to further investigate my relationship with the multiple intersecting factors that constitute the female identity, delving into its multiple aspects.

The central axis of these very intuitive and visceral works is the approach to the female body perceived mainly through three planes: the biological, the psychological and the social, and the juxtapositions and connections among these themes. In this series, I depart from a black and white photograph of a female body and make of these neutral photographs a canvas for recreating, through the physical labor of sewing, metaphors of the mind’s systematic representation of the world.

My hands intervene each work manually, and through this intimate, performatic ritual, the embodiment of the photograph becomes the common ground where the familiar and the foreign meet, as an individual attempt to blur the lines between the internal and external spaces of the body. The construction of these mental maps evokes diverse psychological states and emotions with meanings that are in constant flux, never fixed, just like our identities.

With this series, I aim to approach what lies beyond control and reason, exploring, through the act of drawing with thread, embroidery, fabric and appropriated crochet pieces onto the photographic surface, the intricate mysteries of the psyche. Through these works I intend to shed imaginary light on the female experience in order to build idealized and fantastical connections to the forces of the unconscious.

Marina Font lives and works in Miami Beach, Florida.
To view more of Marina's work, please visit her website.

Mental Structures, 2016.Archival pigment print, gesso and cotton-hemp thread60 x 100 inches, Unique

Mental Structures, 2016.
Archival pigment print, gesso and cotton-hemp thread
60 x 100 inches, Unique

 
Celebration, 2014Archival pigment print, gesso and cotton-hemp thread86 x 52 inches, Unique

Celebration, 2014
Archival pigment print, gesso and cotton-hemp thread
86 x 52 inches, Unique

 
Celulas Madres, 2015-2016Archival pigment print, gesso and cotton-hemp thread82 x 55 inches, Unique

Celulas Madres, 2015-2016
Archival pigment print, gesso and cotton-hemp thread
82 x 55 inches, Unique

 
Untitled, 2016-2017Archival pigment print, gesso and cotton-hemp thread82 x 55 inches, Unique

Untitled, 2016-2017
Archival pigment print, gesso and cotton-hemp thread
82 x 55 inches, Unique

 
Red Net, 2015Archival pigment print, gesso and cotton-hemp thread82 x 55 inches, Unique

Red Net, 2015
Archival pigment print, gesso and cotton-hemp thread
82 x 55 inches, Unique

 
Untitled, 2016Archival pigment print, gesso and thread, mounted on wood panel18 x 14 inches, Unique

Untitled, 2016
Archival pigment print, gesso and thread, mounted on wood panel
18 x 14 inches, Unique

 
Structures of Thought, 2016Archival pigment print, gesso and cotton-hemp thread34 x 34  inches, Unique

Structures of Thought, 2016
Archival pigment print, gesso and cotton-hemp thread
34 x 34  inches, Unique

 
Untitled, 2016Archival pigment print, gesso, found objects and thread34 x 34  inches, Unique

Untitled, 2016
Archival pigment print, gesso, found objects and thread
34 x 34  inches, Unique

 
Discourse, 2016-2017Archival pigment print, gesso and cotton-hemp thread34 x 34  inches, Unique

Discourse, 2016-2017
Archival pigment print, gesso and cotton-hemp thread
34 x 34  inches, Unique

 
Tears of Joy, 2017Archival pigment print, gesso and gold leaf22 x 17 inches, Unique

Tears of Joy, 2017
Archival pigment print, gesso and gold leaf
22 x 17 inches, Unique

 
Personal Space, 2016-2017Archival pigment print, gesso and thread19 x 13 inches, Unique

Personal Space, 2016-2017
Archival pigment print, gesso and thread
19 x 13 inches, Unique

 
Untitled, 2014Archival pigment print, gesso, found objects and thread52 x 42  inches, Unique

Untitled, 2014
Archival pigment print, gesso, found objects and thread
52 x 42  inches, Unique

 
Universe. 2016Archival pigment print, gesso, found objects and thread60 x 100 inches, Unique

Universe. 2016
Archival pigment print, gesso, found objects and thread
60 x 100 inches, Unique