Marisma

Idalia Vásquez-Achury, MFA 2022, Photography

“Many migrants exist in a liminal or ‘Third Space’ between cultures and nationalities, physical locations and imagined or represented spaces” (Edward Soja). At these intersections, migrants construct a sense of place, home, and identity. My current work explores this space through photography, using performance and combining factual and fictional re-imagination of the experience. I explore this “Third Space” as a dynamic site of translation, transmission, and performance and a transitory space of abundance.

I use my brown body to explore the complex physical and mental processes that occur while inhabiting intermediate spaces formed by rigid group identities in constant struggle. This gradual amalgamation of contrasting realms is present in my work as the diffuse borders in tension de la Marisma*, where the rivers meet the sea.

*Spanish: Marisma/ estuario. English: estuary

 
 

Idalia Vásquez-Achury


Website: https://idaliavasquez.com/

Idalia Vásquez-Achury (she/her) is a Colombian-born, Philadelphia-based photographer and educator. Exploring performance, installation, and photography, her practice center on Latinx identity through ethnic affect in the United States, combining factual and fictional re-imagination of the experience. She studied graphic design in Bogota and worked in advertising in Bogota and Quito, Ecuador; before moving to the U.S. Idalia holds a BFA in Photography from College for Creative Studies, Detroit, MI, and an MFA in photography from Tyler School of Art and Architecture, Philadelphia, PA. She has shown her work widely, including at the Woodmere Art Museum, PA; Photo Place Gallery, VT; Scaraba Club Gallery, MI; 555 Gallery, MI; Goldilock Gallery, PA; Casa sin Fin, Colombia. Her projects have been featured in Lenscratch, Don’t Take Pictures and Fotomerika.