Installations and Videos
2024
ixchel/abuelita
2024
Video Animation with sound
3:00 Minutes
2024
Video Animation with sound
3:00 Minutes
©2024ixchel/abuelita
A mixture of live footage and animation, a digital video about my Guatemalan grandmother, Abuelita, as the goddess Ixchel.
ixchel/abuelita is about communicating with my grandmother through the clothes she made for my mother. She was the first person I ever knew who had died. Through gestures and signals I put on the dresses, adorning myself with a tourist mask that comes from my parents' native Guatemala, attempting to communicate with her. Her necklace, which has left a strong visual and auditory presence on me, is part of the performance and soundtrack. Animated objects in the video refer to patterns on the dresses: painted and vector illustrations speaking to different conditions of life.
Video animation ixchel/abuelita is currently being screened at various locations. Contact for viewing.
ixchel/abuelita is about communicating with my grandmother through the clothes she made for my mother. She was the first person I ever knew who had died. Through gestures and signals I put on the dresses, adorning myself with a tourist mask that comes from my parents' native Guatemala, attempting to communicate with her. Her necklace, which has left a strong visual and auditory presence on me, is part of the performance and soundtrack. Animated objects in the video refer to patterns on the dresses: painted and vector illustrations speaking to different conditions of life.
Video animation ixchel/abuelita is currently being screened at various locations. Contact for viewing.
Prototype for an underwater Dance Dance Revolution: If I can’t dance to it, it’s not my revolution.
2024
Video sculpture, 20x20x20 inches
Plexiglass, refurbished computer tablet, mylar, vinyl, solar lights, and silicone.
2024
Video sculpture, 20x20x20 inches
Plexiglass, refurbished computer tablet, mylar, vinyl, solar lights, and silicone.
Photos by Thomas Dubrock
A video sculpture titled “Prototype for an Underwater Dance Dance Revolution: If I Can’t Dance to It, It’s Not My Revolution,” referencing a phrase by revolutionary, political activist, and writer Emma Goldman. The artwork is a collection of varying kinds of plastics collected and exhibited over the past 13 years. The woven components are from bags that held food I ate at the beginning of the COVID lockdown while I was living in Southern California. Other plastics, like the mylar, have been in three of my art installations. The box itself was made early in my career when I was exploring the concept of the human body in general. Projected on all these is a video I made during my first winter holiday when I returned to Houston, Texas, to live. The video is a scene of RGB lights pulsating and changing. Some of the light shifts can stimulate seizures. In one sense, the sculpture acts as a time-capsule. In reference to memory, there is a physical attempt at mitigation: the viewer sees reflections. Mimicking elements of a fun house, log fire in a home, and an aquarium, together create a sense of unease and discomfort.
Woven Wick
2023
Video animation with sound, variable dimensions, duration 30 seconds
Projected in a corner about 4x4x4 feet in dimension
Thinking about Maya Deren's, "Meshes of the Afternoon" as a woven fruit bag.
2023
Video animation with sound, variable dimensions, duration 30 seconds
Projected in a corner about 4x4x4 feet in dimension
Thinking about Maya Deren's, "Meshes of the Afternoon" as a woven fruit bag.
The Magic Hat
2024
Video installation, variable dimensions, duration 30 seconds
Animation, acrylic screens with rear projection foil, metal, blackout fabric, projector
2024
Video installation, variable dimensions, duration 30 seconds
Animation, acrylic screens with rear projection foil, metal, blackout fabric, projector
“The Magic Hat,” is a video installation that is influenced by archetypal symbols and legends. Initially, I wanted to create a “Pepper’s Ghost”: a 19th-century theatrical technique that creates an illusion of a ghost through a 45-degree reflection. Pepper’s Ghosts were used by magicians during this period and continue to be used today in music concerts and theatrical productions. However, in my installation, there is no hidden room or solid figure. Everything is projected as light and distorted.
In the animation, a cowboy hat turns into different objects associated with masculinity and production. Depending on where you stand in relation to the screens, you might see a solid object. But if you were to walk close to that area, you would discover there is nothing there. The title references Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” which addresses Enlightenment themes. I created a visual work where viewers see reflections and mirroring. Their direct view of what is solid or directly projected is mitigated.
In the animation, a cowboy hat turns into different objects associated with masculinity and production. Depending on where you stand in relation to the screens, you might see a solid object. But if you were to walk close to that area, you would discover there is nothing there. The title references Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” which addresses Enlightenment themes. I created a visual work where viewers see reflections and mirroring. Their direct view of what is solid or directly projected is mitigated.
2019
R.E.V.O.L.T II, North Hollywood, CA
Part of Print as Protest group show at Los Angeles Valley College, R.E.V.O.L.T II, was a continued investigation and expression of involving viewers in the creation of artwork. Students were introduced to the original concepts of the piece and then invited to take it apart and make it theirs by creating collages out of it. The students deconstructed the panels, finding words significant to them, creating more prints and collages. After their work was signed, the collages and prints were hung up as part of the installation.
Thanks to the Los Angeles Valley College Gallery and Director, Professor Jenene Nagy
Assistance by LAVC Gallery Techniques students Lee Rubenstein, Linda Thomas (photos noted), and Marilyn Ruman
Thanks to the Los Angeles Valley College Gallery and Director, Professor Jenene Nagy
Assistance by LAVC Gallery Techniques students Lee Rubenstein, Linda Thomas (photos noted), and Marilyn Ruman
2018
Signs of Contemplation
Mirroring Resilience, curated by Edgar Fabián Frías, La Maida Institute,North Hollywood, CA
Mirroring Resilience, curated by Edgar Fabián Frías, La Maida Institute,North Hollywood, CA
Responding to the La Maida Institute and the artists that participated in the Mirroring Resilience artist intensive, I created forty 2"x2 linocut blocks creating images of the objects found around the La Maida Institute that a visitor would see. A durational performance, I invited participants and visitors on the exhibition day to create their own composition which they signed and took home.
Video Shot by Michiko Yao
photo by Michiko Yao
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An installation and printmaking performance/workshop focused on engaging viewers in conversation with a simple form of printmaking. Participants were asked to help with creating R.E.V.O.L.T banners. Participants were also invited to take artwork they made home. Performance took place at Nan Rae Gallery at Woodbury University January 21, 2017 and February 22nd, 2017.
Photos below by Nan Rae Gallery Woodbury University
Photo by Michiko Yao
Nan Rae Gallery Woodbury University
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Nan Rae Gallery Woodbury University
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Nan Rae Gallery Woodbury University
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2016
Animated tourist paintings transition to trauma paintings of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution.
2015
Mountain Through A Peephole , Box 13 Artspace, Houston, TX
00:05:40, double projected video, drapes with reflective fabric, two peepholes
00:05:40, double projected video, drapes with reflective fabric, two peepholes
currently live by the Hollywood hills in Los Angeles, California, but I grew up in Houston and miss its expansive sky. Mountains were just an idea while living in Houston, but are a constant reality for me now. The similarities between Los Angeles and Houston are many such as having diverse cultures, urban sprawl, and concerns about the impact of natural forces on its city. Landscape is a major difference. Thinking about how natural disasters impact Houston and Los Angeles’s landscape, Mountain Through a Peephole contrasts the two cities’ geography and their needs for preparedness as a viewer experience.
Mountain Through a Peephole is a video installation that inverts the public spectacle of the window display and the voyeurism of a peephole. Often times, viewers encounter disaster events through media; this installation affirms that experience, but takes it for what it actually is – a voyeuristic experience. Presenting the landscape in various states of disaster, a video projection inside the window display illustrates these events as cyclical. On the windows are two peepholes creating a type of camera obscura with hindered views. Looking to the growth of natural disasters in both Houston and Los Angeles, this installation asks, “Are you ready?” Reminding everyone that the big one is still coming.
Mountain Through a Peephole is a video installation that inverts the public spectacle of the window display and the voyeurism of a peephole. Often times, viewers encounter disaster events through media; this installation affirms that experience, but takes it for what it actually is – a voyeuristic experience. Presenting the landscape in various states of disaster, a video projection inside the window display illustrates these events as cyclical. On the windows are two peepholes creating a type of camera obscura with hindered views. Looking to the growth of natural disasters in both Houston and Los Angeles, this installation asks, “Are you ready?” Reminding everyone that the big one is still coming.
Mountain Through A Peephole from D.S. Estrada on Vimeo.
2014
Traveling without doing Harm
In this installation of work, Estrada focuses on traveling without doing harm. The term “ harm” is applied broadly, the idea being that whenever people travel, we leave or do something to the immediate environment or community. Traveling without doing harm is an impossible, but lofty, goal for one who wishes to be as respectful as possible to an area they are visiting… maybe.
Drawing upon Estrada’s experiences in travel, often being mistaken for a local, this body of work comments upon traveling as a source of “inspiration.” Using imagery she took while in Alexandria and Cairo, Egypt during the summer of 2009, she contrasts this with images taken while her parents were living in Alexandria during the January Revolution of 2011, known in the U.S.A. as part of the Arab Spring. Addressing issues of cultural insensitivity and voyeurism, Estrada’s works seek to record immediate reactions and considerations unto themselves, creating an installation of paintings and objects that voyeuristically contemplate beauty and change.
Performances: Traveling Without Doing Harm: Blunders and Mishaps
Joy Harris, Guan Rong, Henry Taylor, and Diana-Sofia Estrada
Drawing upon Estrada’s experiences in travel, often being mistaken for a local, this body of work comments upon traveling as a source of “inspiration.” Using imagery she took while in Alexandria and Cairo, Egypt during the summer of 2009, she contrasts this with images taken while her parents were living in Alexandria during the January Revolution of 2011, known in the U.S.A. as part of the Arab Spring. Addressing issues of cultural insensitivity and voyeurism, Estrada’s works seek to record immediate reactions and considerations unto themselves, creating an installation of paintings and objects that voyeuristically contemplate beauty and change.
Performances: Traveling Without Doing Harm: Blunders and Mishaps
Joy Harris, Guan Rong, Henry Taylor, and Diana-Sofia Estrada
2010
Chandelier Mosque, video and text installation at Dan Graham space, Los Angeles
Chandelier Mosque is a project that combines video documentation of a mosque with a spatial installation featuring reflective surfaces and the text of our first amendment.
Reflecting on the recent verbal/physical attacks on the American Muslim population, in this installation Estrada presents documentation of the interior of a mosque filmed on the day of Eid, the end of Ramadan, in 2009. This year, Eid fell on 9/11/2010. A work in contemplation for a year, following the lunar year, Estrada brings this video footage together with the first amendment of the U.S. Constitution to comment on our present moment. In the video documentation, the camera spins around the interior décor of the construction, then starts to slowly follow the figures of Muslim youth taking pictures in the mosque. By situating the video and text in an environment of reflective mylar surfaces, Estrada calls attention to the viewer’s own perception in contrast to the filmed images. She creates a distorted mirror, reflecting the viewer in the close, narrow environment of the gallery space.
Reflecting on the recent verbal/physical attacks on the American Muslim population, in this installation Estrada presents documentation of the interior of a mosque filmed on the day of Eid, the end of Ramadan, in 2009. This year, Eid fell on 9/11/2010. A work in contemplation for a year, following the lunar year, Estrada brings this video footage together with the first amendment of the U.S. Constitution to comment on our present moment. In the video documentation, the camera spins around the interior décor of the construction, then starts to slowly follow the figures of Muslim youth taking pictures in the mosque. By situating the video and text in an environment of reflective mylar surfaces, Estrada calls attention to the viewer’s own perception in contrast to the filmed images. She creates a distorted mirror, reflecting the viewer in the close, narrow environment of the gallery space.
When Temples Collide (2009-current), Single Channel
concept animated mockumentary about Frank Lloyd Wright's influences.
excerpt 00:00:015
concept animated mockumentary about Frank Lloyd Wright's influences.
excerpt 00:00:015
When Temples Collide from D.S. Estrada on Vimeo.
2008
L.A. Killed My Truck (2008), 2 channel video installation, 8:00 minutes
A documentary about the trials and tribulations of a woman’s beloved vehicle breaking down in various locations around Los Angeles. In the end it gets stolen.
excerpt 00:01:23
A documentary about the trials and tribulations of a woman’s beloved vehicle breaking down in various locations around Los Angeles. In the end it gets stolen.
excerpt 00:01:23
1. L.A. Killed My Truck from D.S. Estrada on Vimeo.
Landscape Architect (2008), single channel video, 00:01:55.
Collaboration with writer Joy Harris.
excerpt 00:00:22
Collaboration with writer Joy Harris.
excerpt 00:00:22
2. Landscape architect from D.S. Estrada on Vimeo.
2007
Cuts from D.S. Estrada on Vimeo.
Record Cut (2007), Single channel video, 00:7:35
A mockumentary about an artist’s relationship with her drawing.
excerpt 00:00:42
A mockumentary about an artist’s relationship with her drawing.
excerpt 00:00:42
3. Record Cut from D.S. Estrada on Vimeo.
Letter To Me (2007) Single Channel Video,00:10:00.
A Guatemalan Woman recounts her experiences living in the U.S. during the Feminist revolution. In contrast, her daughter makes statements growing up during that time while she speaks.
excerpt 00:00:50
A Guatemalan Woman recounts her experiences living in the U.S. during the Feminist revolution. In contrast, her daughter makes statements growing up during that time while she speaks.
excerpt 00:00:50
5. Letter to Me 2007 from D.S. Estrada on Vimeo.
4. Teetertot from D.S. Estrada on Vimeo.
2006
Ways of Making Love in u.s (2006), single channel video,00:03:20.
A looping video that presents the viewer with a Latin American woman reciting dishes to her blonde lovers. All the dishes recited contain a type of chile from a specific geographic region, making a global verbal map.
excerpt 00:00:23
A looping video that presents the viewer with a Latin American woman reciting dishes to her blonde lovers. All the dishes recited contain a type of chile from a specific geographic region, making a global verbal map.
excerpt 00:00:23