KUTHO takes inspiration from a Burmese concept of merit. A common ritual undertaken by Burmese Buddhists is to cover their relics with gold leaves. Leaving a gold-mark is exclusive to male devotees for merit-making towards better karma. Women, in the guise of an impure status, are forbidden to approach. All over the kingdoms of Indochina, in a similar way, monks/nuns are other topics to see the place of women in religion nowadays.
To go beyond persistent stereotypes, I think that liberation of the soul is an endless work in progress.
I care about how an offering affirms the idea of a next life and empowers us by being used as a tool for that purpose. Gold and Religion have an ancient relationship. The series talks about Power associated with Religion and the relationship between the visible / not visible, cult/occult, and parallels universes. I use the same leaves to seal my memory with the gold light, which grace, I can not access and post a question about the duality of human nature, on those cultural orders that are such assimilated, that not seen.
These interventions are aimed at interrupting expectations and expanding our interactions with the photograph and it's meaning.

Digital photography direct shot. Hahnemühle Fine Art Baryta, Giclee print. Manual intervention with gold leaves 24K
30 x 45 cm . Paspartú . Frame 50 x 65 cm
Each pieces are unique in the sense that each intervention differs because it is manual

*Other sizes upon request

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Artist Profile

Born: 1965

Hometown: buenos aires

Based in: buenos aires

Andrea Alkalay is an art photographer currently based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She holds a degree in Industrial Design, so materials and forms have always been tools to highlight concepts on its symbolic presence .
She uses photography as a way of thinking, a state of learning, looking for the poetic and political potential that arises from the observation. Another line of inquiry of her practice is the voyage. The condition of foreignness and displacement is a source of inspiration and explores photography’s ability to manipulate perceptions of reality. She is interested in the discrepancy between what we see and what we know, where these qualities contradict and coexist simultaneously.

Her work has been exhibited abroad by being awarded, to mention:
Tifa 2019 (JP), Siena Awards 2020, RAK Festival (UAE), Arte x Arte, Centro Cultural San Martín, the 8th Photography Biennale Tucumán (AR), ArtFest Pueblo Garzón (UY), Premio TRESy3 (VE), Premio FINI (MX), Estación Mapocho (CL). She was awarded at the Light Festival Argentina with a solo-exhibition at the Provincial Museum of Fine Arts in San Juan (2018). She is the author of Uncertain Nature photo book, published in 2016.
Featured at international publications, as Foto Feminas, Saatchi Art, Fotografas Latam, PHmuseum, Lensculture, Arte Hispano, Arte Al Día, between others.

During 2020 was on view at The New Gallery (Canada), PHmuseum Erratic Dreams exhibition, SelectionsArts Viewing room, Photo London digital, BAphoto Live and OtraFeria.com (solo show). Al Jazirah Al Hamra Heritage Village. Outdoor exhibition.UAE.,EspacioFotoArte ,(Uruguay). Live and work in Buenos Aires.

¨Art is a path to authentic, a search for the truth, which I know It doesn't exist. Anyhow, the attempt seems to be valid for me, and that encourages what I do and say¨. (A.A.)