New Topographies: 25.7617° N, 80.1918 W°
November 15, 2022 — May 28, 2023
Bakehouse Art Complex (Miami, FL)
Friday, November 11, 2022 – Sunday, February 12, 2023
The Deering Estate (Miami, FL)
Read an essay on New Topographies: 25.7617° N, 80.1918 W ° here.
New Topographies: 25.7617° N, 80.1918 W° is a multi-site installation by Gabriela Gamboa that brings together archives, photography, and found material to explore how particular landscapes relate to and influence memory. A grouping of digital prints mounted on large-scale aluminum panels depicts el Cerro Bolívar, a mountainous mining zone in the State of Bolívar, Venezuela, noted for having one of the highest concentrations of iron ore in the world. Gamboa’s father was a metallurgical engineer specializing in the extraction and transformation of metals and her early years were spent in close proximity to the mine.
Drawing from memories of her time living near el Cerro B, Gamboa reconstructs a “personal mythology,” an exercise in remembering a place that no longer exists as it once did. She does so by expanding upon the notion of geography, not only as it pertains to the physicality of a landscape (i.e. its topography), but also how it is affected by human intervention.
For this installation, Gamboa constructs her own “map” by imposing the natural features of a landscape she intimately knows on another one that although recognizable, continues to feel unfamiliar and foreign. The mine, an expansive mountainous area that stands in stark contrast to the relative flatness of South Florida, is captured from multiple angles, creating a heightened sense of disorientation. When the resulting works are viewed together, a continuous, yet disjointed, horizon emerges. For Gamboa, this translates to an unending search for a sense of belonging and place exacerbated by the challenges of exile.
