Inner Surface
Alejandra Regalado
The Projecto Showroom on view March 8 - April 14, 2024
For years, I could not sleep. I would get into bed, but I could not dream. I
travelled from New York to the Yucatán Peninsula searching for a way to sleep, to dream, to rest in relationship to my ancestors. A solitary figure submerged in a body of water. Eyes closed, white sheet, a vulnerable body in a great expanse of water. It is Mexico. I document my durational performances; attempt to dream while submerged in seas, rivers, lakes, and cenotes. I locate my performances in bodies of water, especially cenotes, the site of Mayan rituals. I perform what I wish I dreamt. When I create these images, I am looking for sensations on my own surface while being exposed to the elements. The water, the sand, animals, I won’t look at them, I just feel. Cold, heat, pain, fear, warmth, pleasure merge through my skin. The more I get into this process my body and mind will take me to a meditative state. At this place there are no images in my head, just a profound dialog with my body and peace in my soul. I am there.
I am no longer from Mexico or from the United States; I am at home in myself.
Alejandra Regalado is a multidisciplinary artist working in photography, sculpture, video, performance, and installation.
Regalado creates intimate connections that explore the subconscious mind. Driven by a sense of physical and conceptual borders, her work evokes hearts craving for an intellectual self-immersing view into depths the soul of reality. In her latest series, SURFACE, Regalado documents performances where she immerses herself in rivers, open ocean, and natural caverns across Mexico to create intimate self-portraits.
Regalado received her BA in History of Art from Universidad Iberoamericana and MS in Science Communication from Tec de Monterrey, Mexico; and MPS Digital Photography from School of Visual Arts, New York. Her work has been shown in galleries and festivals across the US and Mexico. She has been awarded the Individual Artist Grant from the New York State Council on the Arts, and First Place in Professional Photography at Festival Internacional de la Imagen, Mexico.
Regalado has also participated as an artist in residence of the Galería de la Raza, San Francisco and the National Museum of Mexican Art, Chicago.