Immersive Installation: Photographic Prints with Augmented Reality Experience
in the Inner Room at Gearbox Gallery
November 18 – December 31
Artists’ Reception Saturday December 4, 1 to 4 pm
In a society obsessed with wealth and fame, embracing the ordinary is a political act.
I am taking a walk when I see something that speaks to me, and asks to be photographed. Slowing down, I take the time to notice and give my full attention. Revealing what is right in front of me, I transform ubiquitous subjects that are often ignored and overlooked. A detective in the urban environment, I create archives of dross.
Typologies of the discarded, simultaneously alluring and abject, fascinate me. They are not simply debris, or visual remnants of the pandemic. Rather, they represent individuals. The gloves symbolize our loss – of life, of human connection, of freedom. Yet, they are not just monuments to our pain, they are also a playful community.
I am interested in how trash exists in the state between useful object, and an abstraction that is released from its functionality. Altered by the performance of the street; the marks embody the masses that have physically stepped upon these items.
– Victoria Mara Heilweil
Victoria Mara Heilweil is a nationally exhibited feminist, lens-based artist, curator and educator. She creates archives of the everyday to highlight and value ordinary human experience.
Her artwork has been exhibited nationally, including the de Young Museum, San Jose Institute for Contemporary Art, Robert V. Fullerton Art Museum, university Art Gallery at California State Chico, and the Minneapolis Photo Center. She has also created public and community based art works in conjunction with ZERO1 Biennial, Pro Arts Gallery, CA and the Bayview Opera House. Her photographs are included in collections at Cornell University, Center for Photography at Woodstock and CMPC/Sutter Health Van Ness Hospital in San Francisco.
Victoria Mara Heilweil’s So Much Was Lost is the winning proposal of our 2021 Inner Room Call for Entries. Every year the gallery accepts proposals for special installations or exhibitions in the Inner Room of the gallery. If you are an artist, please watch for future artist’s opportunities at Gearbox Gallery or consider applying for membership.