Coming Down to Earth: Alanna Airitam
Coming Down to Earth:
ALANNA AIRITAM
Alanna Airitam
Watermelon, from the series, Colonized Foods, 2021
Archival Pigment Print, Painted w/ Archival Varnish
24 x 24 inches; 28.5 x 28.5 inches, Framed
Edition 1 of 10
Alanna Airitam
Bananas, from the series, Colonized Foods, 2021
Archival Pigment Print, Painted w/ Archival Varnish
24 x 24 inches; 28.5 x 28.5 inches, Framed
Edition 1 of 10
Alanna Airitam’s series, Colonized Foods (2021-present) takes a look at the dark history of the every day foods we eat and how they became part of our diets.
“My practice is focused on researching historical and contemporary narratives of representation, heritage, identity, stereotypes and the erasure or manipulation of history through portraiture and Vanitas still life subjects. I make photographs that reference the long history of racial and cultural inequality, while contemporary in the desire to move into the future with honor and grace.”
Alanna Airitam, White Privilege
Questioning generalized stereotypes and the lack of fair representation of Black people in art spaces has led photographer Alanna Airitam to research critical historical omissions and how those contrived narratives represent and influence succeeding generations. Her portraits, self-portraits, and vanitas still life photography in series such as The Golden Age, Crossroads, White Privilege, Colonized Foods, Ghosts, and individual works such as Take a Look Inside and How to Make a Country ask the viewer to question the stories of history and heritage we were taught to believe.
Coming Down to Earth will be on view at Candela Gallery through April 23, 2022.