Ana Fernandez
Camisole 106

Media: Paint and wax on a sheet of handmade kozo paper adhered to birch panel - 2018
Size: 24”x18”

Artist Statement:
The Camisole Series is a study on the formal possibilities and meaning inherent in the relationship between fashion and the female body/female identity. It is a poetic examination of the body-garment unit as an intimate repository of physical qualities (strength, fragility, beauty, sensuality, decay), psychological experiences (innocence, vulnerability, fears, wishes, ideals), and wisdom. The pieces reference the body and the layers wrapping it – skin and garment – as a meditation on identity and self.

In them, I regard the garment as a 'second skin', one that simultaneously hides and reveals, or alternatively a shell or carcass that echoes the body in its absence. I incorporate motifs and imagery that relate to the body and garment, sometimes conceiving the two as one, merging into a single entity: the body-as-self / garment-as-self. 

Biography

Ana Fernandez is a visual artist originally trained in her home country of Spain who turned to printmaking, digital, fiber arts, and papermaking after moving to the U.S. Her working method involves alternating between the analog and digital realms, oftentimes within the same piece, as she compiles physical and digital layers of paint, fabric, prints, and drawings. Her work focuses on the interaction between the garment and the female body as a repository of a range of cultural and psychological experiences. Recently, she has turned her research to the formal relationships between clothing and the body by considering clothes as a second skin. She obtained her MFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, has taught at the University of Michigan, and has exhibited in numerous venues in the US and internationally.