Rocio De Alba – Anniversary Art Exhibition

• Artist Portfolio Magazine –

Rocio De Alba – Middle Village, NY

BIOGRAPHY
Rocio is a mixed media fine art photographer and photo instructor based in New York. She has a BFA from the School of Visual Arts and has been a stock photographer for Getty Images since 2008. Rocio has participated in various group exhibitions such as the renowned Flowers Gallery in Chelsea; The Print Center and The Photo Place Gallery, both in Vermont. In addition, Rocio received a scholarship from Visura.co to attend a workshop with Whitney Johnson, Director of Photography for The New Yorker; and Deborah Dragon, Deputy Photo Editor of Rolling Stones Magazine. On April 2015, Rocio was selected (from a submission of 3500 international entries) to the 3rd Annual New York Lens Portfolio review. Rocio’s images have been featured on the World Photography Organization magazine; the Art Saves Lives blog; L’Oeil Magazine; The Hand magazine; and most recently CNN’s Photo Blog. On July 2015, Rocio will be a featured artist at the Women’s Caucus of Art’s Catalog and Exhibition. She will exhibit work at the A.I.R. Gallery in Dumbo; and the SohoPhoto Gallery in Manhattan. In September 2015, Rocio will participate in a group exhibition at the Center for Fine Art Photography in Colorado, curated by Executive Director, Hamidah Glasgow.

Rocio’s work focuses on the dynamics of her personal relationships as they relate to the intricacies of the modern family definition. Her series entitled “Girl Anachronism” attempts to depict the physiological and psychological strain a non-life-threatening diagnose has had on her life.
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ARTIST STATEMENT

Experts say by the time we reach age three hippocampus, a portion of the brain used to store memories, has adequately matured to handle our first palpable recollections. It so happens that is the age I learned about death. This provoked the initial stages of a series of panic and anxiety attacks that would haunt me through adulthood. By age ten, I experienced several more traumatic incidences that intensified the disorder¬¬. I was suicidal, unreasonably needy, perpetually perceived catastrophic fates, and was convinced I subsisted in the wrong century. By age fourteen, a friend unveiled a powerful remedy that relieved all distress: alcohol! I self medicated for years before finding sobriety, therapy, and a healthy lifestyle that demanded I deal with the underlining cause of my psychological malady: my fear of dying.

In 2006 I began an extensive research of Claude Cahun’s work for an essay. Cahun was a 19th century Surrealist artist who experimented with self-portraiture as a way to symbolically escape Nazi oppressions. Using Cahun’s concept of photography as escapism, I began this theatrical series of self-portraits to deconstruct the physical and psychosomatic episodes I endure. I used various digital practices to situate myself in an abstract realm. Today, doctors diagnose my prognosis as promising. Yet, I continue to produce abstract fantasy tableaux of neurosis and emotions of angst, as they enlighten my comprehension of this disease, and produce a cathartic therapeutic neurological relief stimulated by the photographic discipline itself.

“Photography saved my life. Every time I go through something scary…I survive by taking pictures.”
-Nan Goldin