A photography exhibition during the Venice Biennale 2017
Hello Everyone!
Friends, family, and all of you kind enough to read my words, thank you so much for taking the time to visit my campaign. I promise I’ll try to keep this short, sweet, and honest. My name is Francesca Beltran, I’m from Mexico City and eight years ago I left everything I knew and loved to move to New York to pursue my career as an artist. It’s been a long road, but I am very excited to share with you the news that after many years of hard work, I was recently offered the greatest opportunity of my life: to exhibit my photography series Empty Spaces during the Venice Biennale 2017. The photographs will be shown along the Biennale for a period of six months in Personal Structures, a large contemporary art exhibition organized by the Global Art Affairs Foundation at the European Cultural Center.
I’ve never done crowdfunding before, but I decided to launch this campaign not only because I want to fight for this extraordinary opportunity with every resource at hand, but also because I sincerely hope that you see something in my work that calls to you and connects you to the feelings that have driven me to create these images. The money raised from this campaign will help to cover the production costs, such as printing, framing and shipping the photographs to Venice ($600 USD approx), as well as the space and installation fees, which include qualified personnel for installing, handling, maintenance and dismantling of the exhibition that will run for six months along the Biennale ($3,000 USD). In exchange for your kind contributions, I am offering a number of different rewards. Believe me when I say that I devoted a lot of thought into what I could give back to you in appreciation, and all the pieces I selected as rewards come from a body of work that I have created with my whole heart and soul.
I hope you find joy in bringing my images into your lives, homes, and heart. Again, a big thank you for reading this and for supporting the arts!
-Fran
I’m a Mexican visual artist with a focus on film photography and experimental video. My images aim to convey the dissonance between time, body, and space, a phenomenon I’ve been analyzing over the course of my life. By exploring new environments, concepts such as isolation, desolation, and the passing of time become apparent in different subjects and feed into my investigation. My current work focuses primarily on the paradox of feeling alone in an over-connected world.
I photograph to remember. My relationship with the medium was born from a constant feeling of loss that drives my need to capture my surroundings. What initially began as a simple process of documentation, has slowly evolved into a body of work created with deep concern for individuality, message, and intention. At a time when technology is taking over, I turn with nostalgia to analog cameras to discover metaphysical perspectives that question the nature of reality. My intention as an artist is to expose commonalities in behavior and emotion, in order to address a global need for empathy.
My work has been showcased in both national and international exhibitions and publications. Screenings include no-body, an experimental film premiered at the Fondazione Prada during the Venice Film Biennale 2016, and Together We Rise, a short film commissioned by the Women’s March on Washington in 2017. My interest in female representation has obtained the attention of projects like The Front and Girlgaze, for which I am now an official ambassador. Last year I was selected to participate in Belligerent Eyes | 5K Confinement, an experimental media research facility at Fondazione Prada in Venice, focused on contemporary image production.
In Empty Spaces, solid man-made structures are juxtaposed with their morphing natural surroundings, accentuating the feeling of isolation triggered by the forceful contrast. The project analyzes the sublime atmosphere that originates from altering a previously wild terrain by adding new architectural forms and textures. The result is a new metaphysical realm. An analysis of this new environment evidences the commonalities both nature and architecture share in their precision regarding design and purpose, and highlights the nature of change by examining the cause and effect relationship between the two. By creating a new otherworldly setting, the viewer is encouraged to reflect on the concept of belonging, and on our influence and human stand in relation to this Earth.
Personal Structures is a large contemporary art exhibition organized by the Global Art Affairs Foundation at the European Cultural Center during the Venice Biennale 2017. The Biennale will run from May 13 to November 26 2017, a period of six months. The 2017 exhibition will present artists who are concerned with the topics: Time – Space – Existence, and working in different mediums including, photography, video, painting, and sculpture. Since 2002 there have been 28 exhibitions and 8 symposia organized in the name of the project Personal Structures, and since 2011 the project has been part of the Venice Biennale collateral events. The exhibition will be visited by over 300.000 visitors with free entry for all.
To see more about my work:
To learn more about the foudation behind the exhibition:
The foundation hosting the exhibition:
http://www.europeanculturalcentre.eu/
To see where the exhibition will take place:
I sincerely thank you all for reading this far and for even considering to support me in this pivotal moment of my career.
All my love,
Fran
There are no big risks for this project. If I reach my funding goal I will be able to participate in the exhibition and to afford the production of the rewards.