STATEMENT

“The mirror will always remain haunted by what is not found within it”.

Sabine Melchior-Bonnet

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Ana Barbara’s most recent body of work, featuring visual illusions that charm the eye and playfully disorient the mind.  Reminiscent of Lewis Carroll’s “Through the Looking Glass” – the sequel to “Alice and Wonderland” – Caballero’s compositions feature mirror images that reflect another version of existing reality - an alternate world where things might appear upside-down, backwards, or just not make logical sense.

 

Caballero’s work offers countless different ways of “seeing” her subject matter. Flat mirrors like small puddles reflect surroundings that appear as if they could belong to a different time or place. A yard covered with wood chips and a dense cherry blossom tree before a pale sky, a snow-covered pool and a frosty railing contrast with tall pine trees, rocks and other earthy textures that seemingly give us an out-of-this-world sensation. 

 

Her photographs are playful but nostalgically melancholic. They feel the way memories feel when they surface unexpectedly – memories that may, or may not, have an obvious trigger or reason for bubbling up but somehow still manage to blur out the present and cloud everything else.

 

Plenty is left hidden from view, leaving the spectator to dream up their own version of that which is not visible. For each photograph, will be see perceived differently by each individual. Location is both protagonist and secondary to Ana´s pieces, main characters, and extras at the same time. 

 

Mirrors carry a strong cultural significance: that they might reveal some hidden truth, a more truthful version of what we see. Yet, as demonstrated by what is both seen and not seen in Caballero’s works, everyone will see a different reality. What we see is our own personal version of the truth. Caballero captures different perspectives of the world around her so that we can look within ourselves.

 

Caballero’s manipulation of space through her lens, truly challenges our conception of “seeing”. Her most recent approximation to the relationship between photography and reflection, takes her out of the 2D constraint into the realm of installations.   “This Should Be on the Moon “, and “Moon Peak-a-Boo”, create a relationship with the spectators, their surroundings, and actual physics. Creating a connection between self and universe, between the known and the mystery.

 

Ana´s approach to photographic concepts shows her curiosity for researching and exploring the relationship between space and self, discovering formulas that very few have experienced, separating her work from many others of the photographic scene.

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By: Stephanie Ferguson Villalon

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