2021 EXPOSED ARTIST DIRECTORY
Nina Surel
2020, Archival pigment print, acrylic,
terracotta on canvas, 48 x 36 in
Click on the image for full view.
“The starting point for the Gravida Series is the documentation of the video “Gravida” (2019). For the video I convened 31 women of all ages and walks of life to help me conduct a ritual of sorts. I also invited women such as doulas, shamans, healers, and conscious movers, all with a connection with fertility practices, and we performed rituals with each one of them, that included the use of 400 pounds of red clay. “Gravida” is a tribute to primal femininity and women who have experienced their bodies to their fullest potential.
Nina Surel (Buenos Aires, 1971) is a multidisciplinary artist based in Miami, Florida. Her work explores archetypes by incorporating elements from an array of sources. She looks to art history, New Age culture, telluric elements, and ritual practice to address the universe of the feminine with a personal and introspective emphasis. In an ever-growing range of techniques, among them video, photography, sculpture, and installation, she questions the logic innate to vital processes, part and parcel of womanhood and the passage of time.
Surel studied fashion design at the Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina, and trained in costume and set design at the Teatro Colon's lnstituto de Arte, also in Buenos Aires. In 2001, she moved to the United States and started to focus solely on her art. She is the founder and coordinator of Thecollective62, an independent art space devoted to creation outside the traditional circuits of art through regeneration that derived from creation and community-based workshops, located in Liberty City, Florida. Her work has been exhibited in institutions and galleries in the United States, Europe, and Latin America.