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Stones touch human beings because
they suggest immortality, because they have survived the passing
of time.
Different cultures throughout
the world give Stones the attributes of magical powers, energy,
luck, fertility and healing. Earth and Stone are two forms of
the same material, symbolizing the same forces. Stones are also
associated with childbirth. Prima Materia - the beginning. What
is ironic about this body of work is that the Piedras series
started after I had just found out that a dear friend was very
sick with AIDS which opened the door to a whole range of emotions.
I started thinking about vulnerability and the passing of time,
about our existence and the human connections we experience
in our lives. Around this time I traveled to England with some
friends and visited Stonehenge, and was really moved by its
power.
Monolithic monuments, inseparable
from their sites and from their unknown history, they turn up
alone in the most isolated areas. The single standing stone
is probably the most difficult prehistoric artifact to identify
and it is often impossible to tell whether they are ancient
and in their original location. That uncertainty of not really
knowing - the speculative history of the stones. They are creations
of nature - witnesses of time.
I knew then, that I would make work dealing with the energy
of that place and the energy that sustains us on a daily basis.
This forced me to look to nature for inspiration - to deal with
the present and my surroundings. The series Piedras started
here.
Photographing in my yard or my
garden - that need to return to nature and home. Allowing myself
to work in a natural environment which would help me to confront
issues of uncertainty and fear in a secure place known to me
and that I could trust. The need to reconnect to a basic and
more primitive form of creating an image drove me to start using
the pinhole camera. The most primitive form of photographing.
Again, the prima materia.
This series brings together all
of these circumstances. I am fascinated by marks that signal
the passage of time. Fossils represent years and years of information.
I incorporated onion skins into the pieces to symbolize fossils,
which erode and change over time. I used the stones to talk
about destiny, roots, presence, lines, walls and impressions,
which are all titles of images in the series. In one piece the
stones create a barrier and in another they become objects linking
one life form to another. I also combine each title with a number
which reflects the identity of a friend. This allows me to pay
tribute to specific people and honor the connections we have
formed. I try to create images about the connections we have
-- the connection with a person, a place or a feeling.
María Martínez
Cañas
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