EDISON PEÑAFIEL

MARE MAGNVM does not refer only to a single or specific event. No information is given on the characters’ origin or their personalhistory. Their faces are not visible, covered by papier-mâché maskstypical from Peñafiel’s native Ecuador, that both humanize andde-personify these characters. The identity of these people remainstemporally and culturally ambiguous; their unspecific costumingtransforms them into archetypal representatives of any Diasporapopulation.

Mare Magnum (Great Sea in Latin) is the name Romans gave to the Mediterranean Sea. Although the artist constructs fictional characters,he points to real life scenes from the Mediterranean and the Caribbean,and from so many other sites of migration across bodies of water. Theexhibition describes a reality that is already here, and is also an omenof one that is soon to come.

Through video, animation and photography, the artist aims in this project to develop a variety of visual narratives in which he createscharacters based on real stories of his own and of those close to him.In these narratives the artist weaves an alternative reality thatreflects the results of migrational processes, using indirect referencesto contemporary historical events. The idea is to transmute these realstories into fictitious imagery that is universal at the same time,always keeping the essence of the original characters and situations.

This exhibition is part of a wider body of work eponymously titled MARE MAGNVM, which includes the ongoing exhibition MARE MAGNVM: Lallegada currently on show at our space in calle Madera, in which the 81characters that appear in the video installation are presented.

Exhibition realized with the technical support of MAD LABS.

Music composed and interpreted by Jonathan Gerstner