A Constant State of Becoming Exhibition: Interview with the Artist. Julieta Pestarino.
After being part of A Constant State of Becoming exhibition, curated by Marcela Villanueva, Julieta Pestarino reflects on her art in an interview with Myriam Martínez.
How would you define yourself?
I’m Julieta Pestarino, from Argentina. I’m not a professional photographer — I take pictures because I love them —, however, I do work with other people’s photos as a curator and researcher.
You’re an artist, but also a curator, a researcher. Do you find the same inspiration and follow the same process in all your work?
The subject matter arises on its own, but it’s closely linked to a research, I always start from there. Then I see what format is best for it. Sometimes it’s an academic article, other’s a video; it can be a series of photos or an exhibition. I look at the materials and the stories I have, and look for a way to approach that inspiration.
For example, in 2017, I made, almost unintentionally, another short film. I began an academic investigation — well, I thought was academic, at the time — on a photographer from Ecuador. And I wrote an article, but there was a lot of material that went beyond the academic realm — very interesting and also very crazy. In the end, it became an installation, the main piece of which was a nine-minute short film that I didn’t expect to do when I sat down in front of the computer for the first time. But for that particular project, I felt like the audiovisual format was the only one that worked, allowing me to also add my recorded voice to the story.
Was the creative process for “Paths of Lights” like that as well?
It was similar. I wanted to interview this photographer — the only living member of one of the two groups I researched for my thesis —, and I knew she was somewhere in the United States, but I didn’t know where. I managed to get in touch with her by chance, and, since I was living in Los Angeles at the time, I went to her house in New York. I was aware that I would probably never see her again, so I said, “let’s record everything, just in case”. At first, I just wanted to make sure I had an audio record, but we also had a camera and microphone with us, so we took advantage of it. My partner, who studied film, filmed everything. But we never thought it would be so visually interesting.
How so?
I always work with interviews, but I don’t film them, and I didn’t know if she would want to. But she turned out to be a proper character, she did everything for the camera. She even asked us to record her doing this or that — at one point she started singing in German and everything —. She didn’t remember much from the years of her life that interested me [for the academic project], but she told us fascinating things. As soon as I left, I knew I had to do something with that material. Although I never did. Due to life circumstances, it was stored in a drawer for two years, until Karne Kunst invited me to be part of the “A Constant State of Becoming” exhibition. I thought, “this is my chance to watch it all again and try to do something, even if it’s short, with the seven hours we have recorded”. She had been so happy throughout that day, and shared so much with us, I felt I had to give her something too.
“Lisl (Elizabeth) Steiner was born in 1927 in Vienna, Austria. In 1938, at the age of 11, she moved with her parents to Buenos Aires, Argentina, fleeing Nazism. She lived there until she was 33 years old, when she emigrated again to New York in 1960, where she lived for the rest of her life and developed a career as a photographer. In Argentina, Lisl was part of the local artistic avant-garde, belonging to the prestigious group Madí and the group of photographers Fórum. Both represent two key initiatives in the history of Argentine and Latin American art; Lisl Steiner was one of the few female members of both groups, and the only living member at the time of our meeting in 2022″.
What was it like to return to this project?
It’s the first version I’ve done, it’s a work in progress; there are many things I’d like to change and improve. I did it in three weeks at home, it took me a long time to see all the material, to remember what she’d told me. But I’ve loved having the opportunity to reconnect with it, with its more artistic side. Years ago, I planned my work more, I thought about it a lot. Since I no longer work as a photographer, right now I let things come to me. I’m more relaxed, I let things happen. “Paths of Light” is the perfect example.
I’m friends with the other artists who were part of the exhibition, and I was talking to them about other projects before Karne Kunst suggested we did this. I dropped those other projects because they weren’t in line with the theme of “A Constant State of Becoming”, and I started working on this new work. Exhibiting it alongside them, in a space like Bardo, it all just fell into place.
You’ve already explored the topic of migration previously, in your thesis.
It’s interesting because I knew “La Carpeta de los Diez” by name; I didn’t really know anything about them. I didn’t start researching them because they were a group of migrant photographers. Later, I realized that. So a more socially engaged theme emerged, in a way, one that dealed with migration, memory… I studied anthropology, so the mechanisms and photographic practices took a backseat. I was more interested in that aspect: the strategies they used to do what they wanted in a predefined environment. All of this is permeated by migration. Almost all the photographers I work with, in one way or another, are always displaced.
Is this anthropological approach also reflected in your curating?
I think it develops my ethical and social awareness. I’m currently working on a historical exhibition about Mexican photography, and there are a lot of things I’ve decided not to show because I don’t think it’s the right way to do it. Maybe not everyone who comes from an art history background approaches it that way; but, for me, there are things that should be questioned.
In your search for the ideal format, which one are you planning to explore more in the future?
I know that at some point I’m going to write a book. Short stories, a novel, I don’t know. I feel like there are a lot of things I’d like to do related to writing, but it’s a habit I don’t have. I sometimes write things that happen to me: things I haven’t documented in photos or videos, and that I can only “record” with words. I think that, when I’m older, I’ll sit down and write my memoirs.
And if we’re talking about available resources, how do you approach each project, knowing that they might not come to fruition due to external factors?
I think everything has its time. The important thing is to have an idea and a backup of projects. “Paths of Lights” emerged from this opportunity, for example. It’s true that trying to put together an exhibition of “La Carpeta de los Diez”, with all its photographs scattered around the world, is much more difficult, but it’s there on my list. Someday it will happen, somehow I’ll achieve it, I’m not worried.
Myriam Martínez.
