The Adventures of Guille and Beli
Like a chapter of a novel, the series of photographs are part of an ongoing project that began in 1999, which register the saga of two young cousins, Guillermina and Belinda, then 9 and 10 years old- living in the Argentine countryside. Seeking to portray not only the physical but the mental transformations of these girls, Sanguinettis' photographs are poised theatrical constructions as well as spontaneous recreations of childhood fantasies.
While the photographs follow a progression that suggests the broadest arc of life: birth to death, there is also a strong identification in them to a Victorian iconography in which female characters were tangled between the erotic and the mystical and seemed to be destined to tragic or unfulfilled passions by the context in which they lived.
The two young girls dressed up in various costumes, produce scenes that are imbued with references to art and literature and explore the diffuse boundary between dream and reality. There is something in the mood of these images that recalls the hours of the siesta, that moment when times collapses into a set of monotones hours and reality seems far removed.
About Alessandra Sanguinetti
Grants and Prizes
2002 Artist in Residence. Lightwork. Syracuse University
2001 Hasselblad Foundation Grant
2001 National fund for the arts grant. Argentina
2000 Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship recipient
2000 1st Prize, National Hall of the Arts, Argentina
1998 Joop Swart Master Class, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
1997 Ernst Hass work grant for documentary Photography
1997 National fund for the Arts. Argentina
1994 1st Prize, Buenos Aires Art Biennial.
Individual Exhibitions
2004 Yossi Milo Gallery, "The Adventures of Guille and Beli"
2003 Museum of Modern Art of Buenos Aires, "The Adventures of Guille and Beli"
2003 Robert B. Menschel Gallery. "The Adventures of Guille and Beli.." Lightwork, Syracuse University. NY.
2001 Ruth Benzacar Gallery. "On the Sixth Day". Buenos Aires
1998 Fotogaleria del Teatro San Martin. "Sweet Expectations". Buenos Aires
1997 Centro Cultural Ricardo Rojas. Buenos Aires
1995 Museo Historico de Fotografia "Sweet Expectations". Quilmes. Argentina
1994 Fundacion Andy Goldstein. "Sweet Expectations". Buenos Aires.
Group Shows
2004 Chelsea Art Museum, "We are the world". New York
2004 Ariel Meyerovitz Gallery, "Flowers". New York
2003 Daniel Azoulay Gallery, Art Basel. Miami
2003 Yancey Richardson Gallery, "Enchanted Evening". New York
2001 Premio Banco Ciudad, National Museum of Fine Arts. Buenos Aires
2001 Premio Banco Nacion, Centro Cultural Recoleta. Buenos Aires
2001 Galeria Fundacion Klemm. "Premios Klemm". Buenos Aires
2000 National Hall of the Arts, Palais de Glace. Buenos Aires
1999 Museum of Modern Art, "New Collection". Buenos Aires
1998 "Underexposed" Exposeptember exhibitions in Stockholm
1998 Joop Swart Master Class exhibition. Rotterdam, The Netherlands
1997 Museum of Fine Arts, "The New Generation". Buenos Aires
1996 Curutiba Art Biennial. Curutiba, Brazil
1996 Centro Cultural Recoleta, "Homage to Frida Kahlo", Buenos Aires
1995 Fundacion Banco Patricios, "Encuentros" Buenos Aires
1995 Centro Cultural Recoleta, "Erotizarte" Buenos Aires
1994 494 Gallery, "On Shaky Ground". New York
1994 Galeria Rozarte "Dichosos sean los ojos". Rosario, Argentina
1993 Buenos Aires Art Biennial. Argentina