Statement
My work develops from a fundamentally textile thinking process and is articulated through sculpture (textile), photography, performance, video, and drawing. Through these mediums, I propose a broad approach to weaving by exploring points of contact and interlacing between landscape, architecture, and the body (both human and animal).
Textiles form the epistemological foundation of the world, the image, space, matter, and the body within the work. On one hand, textiles manifest in both the corporeal and abstract dimensions of the work: the tensions generated by points of contact, interlacing, crossing, and entangling between different elements within an image, sculpture, or performance. These tensions hold weight and gravity, woven together to form the corporeal aspect of the work. On the other hand, textiles lead to political, affective, and ecological content. For example, a photograph of a body about fabric evokes the landscape that seems to form outside the body and the one within, touching fibers and stirring emotions inside. Another example would be the weaving in editing
I am also interested in the boundaries between humans, animals, vegetables, and minerals. Through weaving via photographic images, drawing, and sculpture, I play with blurring these boundaries. In the video performance El derecho y el revés (Right and Wrong), I play with a multilayered wool and felt textile, introducing my head and moving the fabric with my hands, discovering these layers and inserting my arms. My face becomes blurred as I move within (or outside?) this innocent yet monstrous structure, resembling a vulva, blanket, or ornament.
BIO
(b. 1980, Colombia) is a visual artist and educator. She holds a Master’s in Fine Arts from Chelsea College of Art and Design and a Master’s in Philosophy from University College London. Her artistic practice began in 2002, exploring photography, textiles, performance, and video media that she combines formally and conceptually. Her work investigates the points of contact and interconnections between the human and animal body, architecture, landscape, and the psychological, political, and ecological dimensions of these relationships.
Her pedagogical practice started in 2007. She worked at Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano and currently teaches at Universidad El Bosque and Universidad de los Andes. She integrates philosophy, with an emphasis on phenomenology and the body, into her teaching, mainly in undergraduate courses on drawing, photography, perception, and performativity. She also advises thesis projects.
Figueroa has exhibited her work at various venues, including DDMMAAAA (Espacio Odeón, Colombia), The Wrong Biennale, the 45th National Salon of Artists (Colombia), Artecámara 2019 (ARTBO, Colombia), the Museum of Art of Pereira (Colombia), Encontros da Imagem (Portugal), and independent spaces such as Miami Prácticas Contemporáneas (Colombia) and Más Allá (Colombia). She has also conducted talks and workshops at Universidad ICESI (Colombia), Museo La Tertulia (Colombia), El Parqueadero (MAMU, Banco de la República, Colombia), and MAMBO (Colombia). Cristina is also a member of the collective La Nave de Lxs Locxs of the Barranquilla Carnival. She is a first-time mother.
