SENSE by Sonia Toledo
SENSE by Sonia Toledo March 4-March 29, 2014 Opening Reception: March 4, 2014 6-8 p.m.
Gallery
15 White Street New York, NY 10013 www.sohophoto.com
A Note from the Artist These photographs were taken while I traveled in Indonesia during the fall of 2013. For me, every journey to a new location is also a journey in self-discovery. All is looked at in a new light, including the food I eat. Deeply psychological in nature, Sense seeks to connect the viewer with his or her feeling state. Not unlike Rorschach tests, each one of these images brings to light that which lies under the surface. What do they unveil for you?
Sonia Toledo February 2014 New York City
Sense* noun any of the faculties, as sight, hearing, smell, taste, or touch, by which we perceive stimuli originating from outside or inside the body. This body of work is designed to arouse the senses in the tradition of magical realism. Passion fruit, mangosteens, snake fruit, pineapples and tamarillos cure ailments and provide nutrition, while their texture, taste, smell and beautiful hues, as shown in these photographs, stir passions oftentimes forbidden. “Sense� Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 26 Nov. 2013
Sense III
Sense XIII
Sense XIV
Sense XV
Sense XVI
Sense IV
Sense VI
Sense I
Sense II
Sense VII
Sense IX
Sense VIII
Sense XII
Sense XVII
Sense XVIII
Sense X
Sense XI
About the Artist A successful inance executive in New York City with degrees from Harvard and Columbia, Sonia Toledo has accomplished much in her professional career. It is only when one peeks behind the veil of her professional persona that her true artistic anima is revealed. Having grown up in a San Juan household where words were kept to a minimum, Sonia has found that the most effective way to communicate her inner thoughts is her photography. While expression through photography has always been a signiicant part of Sonia’s life, it wasn’t until a tumultuous personal time in 2008 that she started looking at her art as a way of communicating the importance of life as a journey in personal transformation. Her Processes Sonia embraces many forms of photographic expression, including alternative processes and photographic composites. She uses her photographs to magnify that which is overlooked. To her, alternative processes are a form of alchemy in which light and noble metals transform subject matter. The process of mixing chemicals and brushing them onto virgin paper is a ritual she uses to embed intention for the protection and healing of her wounded or endangered subjects.
Sonia’s photographic composites are created from images that she captures while traveling to exotic locations all around the globe. Most often, her pieces incorporate both land and underwater scenery. For each composite, Sonia begins with a base image that evokes a particular strong feeling – usually nostalgic in nature. While studying that image, Sonia brings in elements that help her convey that yearning for what is no longer. Her composites stay true to each location. Some works come together in just a few days, while others take several months to assemble. Sonia’s process is complete once the piece fully conveys the experience she felt while photographing. Her Philosophy Sonia inds inspiration in the power of women, relations between the sexes, and the primeval beauty of nature. Each trip is an initiation, each locale a distillation of the world we live in. Her work is meant to give voice to nature and its inhabitants. Sonia wants observers of her work to feel empathy for the world around them -- to sense its magic and feel a deep connection to it. Her work is littered with references to symbology, tarot divination and astrology, all of which she uses as tools for self-discovery. While humans are often obsessed with inding scientiic explanations for what we see, hear and feel, Sonia focuses instead on intuition and the experience of perception itself. If her work can break people of their conditioned thinking, then it has achieved its purpose.
For more information visit www.soniatoledo.net
he photographs in this catalog are copyright protected and are not to be reproduced without express written permission from the artist. Catalog and text Š2014 Sonia Toledo.