Alessia Canteros

Sculpture
On paper
Digital
About

Lost in Compression

Lost in Compression is a digital animation commissioned by Art Volt, Ada X, and Art+Feminism, created during the Connecting... art residency. The work is a meditation on intergenerational trauma and the inheritance of both emotional and physical legacies. It delves into themes of memory, classism, resilience, and the enduring impact of unresolved grief passed down through generations. Lost in Compression combines personal and historical narratives to explore the complexities of inherited trauma and memory. By juxtaposing the symbol of the horse with the textures of decay and the intimate stories of the artist’s grandmothers, this piece invites viewers to reflect on the legacy of trauma and the resilience required to navigate its enduring effects.

Mobirise Website Builder

The animation employs frame manipulation to depict moving symbols that represent the artist’s grandmothers. These symbols are rendered in ASCII art, combining textures of green paint and meat to evoke a visceral sense of decay and transformation. The degradation of the image reflects the process of historical trauma and the lingering effects of unresolved grief.

In the video, a horse, symbolizing both the historical and personal contexts, appears distorted and fragmented. This representation underscores the impact of generational trauma on individual and collective memory. The choice of imagery—merging a horse with textures of green paint and meat—serves as a poignant metaphor for the ways in which trauma and coping mechanisms are passed down through generations.

Mobirise Website Builder

The animation employs frame manipulation to depict moving symbols that represent the artist’s grandmothers. These symbols are rendered in ASCII art, combining textures of green paint and meat to evoke a visceral sense of decay and transformation. The degradation of the image reflects the process of historical trauma and the lingering effects of unresolved grief.

In the video, a horse, symbolizing both the historical and personal contexts, appears distorted and fragmented. This representation underscores the impact of generational trauma on individual and collective memory. The choice of imagery—merging a horse with textures of green paint and meat—serves as a poignant metaphor for the ways in which trauma and coping mechanisms are passed down through generations.

Lost in Compression, 2020, digital animation, audio in Spanish, 1 minute.

Framing memories

The accompanying audio, presented in Spanish, weaves together the history of the Criollo horse in Argentina with personal anecdotes about the artist’s grandmothers. The audio transcript reads:

“En el siglo XVI, cien caballos árabes, bereberes y andaluces cruzaron el océano y fueron abandonados por los colonos españoles en Argentina. Se volvieron ferales, se adaptaron a las duras condiciones ambientales de la pampa, se multiplicaron y se dispersaron en un mar herbáceo.

Mi abuela paterna, aislada en su hogar de clase media alta, y con un marido que no la dejaba trabajar, a veces pintaba por diversión. Sus dos pinturas de caballos son todo lo que me queda de ella, y ahora se encuentran en la sala de mi padre.

Mi abuela materna, al convertirse en madre a los quince años, descuartizaba vacas en una fábrica de carne. Usaba botas hasta las rodillas para proteger sus piernas del agua ensangrentada que se acumulaba en el suelo cuando limpiaba la carne que colgaba de arriba con una manguera de presión. Me pregunto si alguna vez tuvo que despedazar caballos.”

© Copyright 2024 Alessia Canteros - All Rights Reserved