A walk through the valley of modernity

With a duality that contrasts modern and natural elements, Annette grew up as a witness to the age of mechanical reproduction, as Walter Benjamin would state. In her work, the artist reminds us how technology becomes a tool to convey her philosophy, showcasing the world with versatility, through its inequalities and injustices, but also with the beauty that has always existed in nature.

Her passion for nature and photography started in her childhood and the connections she documented in every journey with her first camera —an Instamatic 110—, in the long walks around the quaint state of California. Through this, Annette developed an inexplicable love for places and the Earth, which led her to study Geology and approach life and her surroundings with a different perspective.

As she grew older, the artist, like everyone else in the world, has witnessed how technology takes over spaces to create ecosystems we might have thought as futuristic in the past. In this regard, she states: “I think our society is very willing to create manufactured nature in return for connectivity”. This served as inspiration for her project Fauxliage, where she shot hundreds of cellphone towers disguised as trees in the

Estados Unidos, lo que Annette interpreta como “edificios falsos”, como un valle misterioso de convivencia tecnológica, como un extraño lugar donde la soledad juega un papel fundamental, porque es ahí donde se puede captar el imaginario de un mundo que está en constante construcción.

De esta forma, encontramos en toda su obra espacios “vacíos”, yuxtapuestos a la dualidad de diversos conceptos como la polarización y sus matices. Así, Annette explica: “También me gusta entretejer conceptos como la división, la polarización, la naturaleza y la modernidad en mi trabajo”. Pareciera como si uno estuviese acicalado al otro y no como una contraparte, por lo general estamos acostumbrados a que la oscuridad sea ausencia de luz o el espacio vacío implique ausencia de elementos, pero ¿es esto así?, ¿o es un elemento constituido junto al otro? Annette responde: “No creo que sean mutuamente excluyentes. Espero que mis fotografías trasmitan esos conceptos”.

La crítica sobre la naturaleza en la actualidad, está siempre en el fondo de la obra de Annette, por eso “subrayo la locura de intentar disfrazar tecnología moderna como árboles”. Y explica que el oxígeno que necesitamos para sobrevivir no nace de las torres de telecomunicaciones que invaden las ciudades, por irónico que parezca. Así, utiliza la naturaleza como un canal para descifrar los males de la sociedad actual. Encontrar paisajes que sustituyan a las metáforas de la división cultural es para la artista “un alivio frente a la dura retórica de la televisión y las redes sociales”.

Dentro de los espacios y las polarizaciones, también está presente la soledad y a su vez la empatía humana, que puede ser desencadenada por algunas expe- western United States. She interprets the towers as “fake buildings”, in an uncanny valley where technology converges, sort of like a strange place where being alone plays an important role, because only then is it possible to capture the imagery of a constantly evolving world.

All her artwork presents a duality, for she juxtaposes “empty” spaces and explores diverse concepts such as polarization and its nuances. Annette explains: “I also like to interweave concepts like division, polarity, nature and modernity in my work”. These dimensions seem as though they are complementary and not contrasting. In general, we are used to darkness being the absence of light, or empty spaces being the absence of elements. However, is that truly the case? Are these elements built parallelly alongside one another? Annette responds: “I don’t see them as mutually exclusive. Hopefully those concepts come across in my photographs.”

The criticism of modern-day nature is always the backdrop of Annette’s work, which is why she “points out the folly of trying to disguise modern technology as trees”. Ironic as it may seem, she explains the oxygen we need to survive does not come from the cellphone towers invading our cities. Therefore, she uses nature as a channel to decipher the evils of present-day society. For the artist, finding landscapes to substitute the metaphors of cultural division is “a balm from the harsh rhetoric of TV and social media.” riencias, sin embargo, no hay nada como los eventos más desafortunados para mover las fibras más íntimas de cualquiera y es allí donde la memoria puede ser “selectiva”, es la voz de la artista, donde cuenta cómo la estructura de su familia estaba alterada, en su obra Memory Building. En esta obra, Annette, plasma sentimientos de dolor y pérdida usando la fotografía como un canal para superar procesos de su niñez evocando al duelo, no obstante, aquí se da cuenta de la transversalidad de las emociones que puede trabajar por medio del arte, al ver reflejado en sus espectadores un dolor que Annette creyó propio, que salió de sí, pero que también implica al resto de las personas. Es ahí donde la artista se convierte en un artesano de emociones, donde su obra deja de ser suya para ser de quien la lee desde afuera y la reconstruye desde adentro, desde su propia memoria. “Esa experiencia de universalidad me ha impulsado a emprender otros proyectos, por muy personal que sea mi punto de vista”, dice Annette.

Loneliness is also present within places and polarization, and the same can be said for human empathy, which can be developed with certain experiences.

“Uno de los temas subyacentes en Memory Building es la importancia de los lugares. La casa de mi infancia perteneció a mi familia durante más de 60 años. Encontré significado en la historia, los objetos personales e incluso las superficies de las estructuras de esa propiedad, al igual que lo encuentro en el paisaje californiano en general”, señala. Para llegar a esta memoria es necesario estar solos, con espacios que son importantes protagonistas en nuestras vidas, en la introspección de ellas y en la libre interpretación del autor y el espectador. Para Annette, esos espacios de soledad son sacrosantos para su obra así como la tecnología, que sigue siendo el elemento de compañía en cada fotografía. El arte no trata de condenar nada, ni a nadie, es solo un medio en donde la conexión con el mundo y su dualidad hace que podamos apreciar y experimentar sensaciones por medio de artesanos.

However, there is nothing like a series of unfortunate events to shake someone’s innermost core, which is when memory can be “selective”. In her piece Memory Building, the artist uses her voice to narrate how her family structure was altered. In it, Annette captures feelings of pain and loss, using photography as a means to overcome childhood experiences with grief. However, the all-encompassing nature of the emotions she explores through art is evident, with viewers relating to a grief Annette thought to emanate from her and be just her own, but that can also engage others. There, the artist becomes an artificer of emotions and her work ceases to be her own to become the work of those who interpret it from the outside and reconstruct it from the inside, from their own memories. “That experience of universality has encouraged me to pursue other projects, no matter how personal my viewpoint”, Annette says.

“An underlying theme to Memory Building is the importance of place. My childhood home was in my family for over 60 years. I found meaning in the history, personal items and even the surfaces of the structures on that plot of land just as I do in the broader California landscape”, she comments. Being alone is necessary to be able to access these memories, and so is doing so in places that are important protagonists in our lives, through introspection and the free interpretation of the author and the spectator. For Annette, these spaces to be on her own are sacred for the work she creates, as well as technology, which remains the key part of every one of her photographs. Art is not about damning anything, or anyone, it is just a means in which the connection with the world and its duality allows us to appreciate and experience sensations through the work of the artificers of art.