Marcos Lora Read
Santo Domingo 1965

My work is a product of an amalgamated society that creates its identity through collective memory. From the earliest work, I focused on the idiosyncrasies of the Dominican Republic, exploring the nature of our cultureusinghistory,anthropology,andurbanarcheologyasresources. Fromthere,Idevelopedmy
discourse using metaphors to explore the concept of ‘the journey’, the movement of people, refugees, the homeless, identity, gender violence – themes that recur in my work as they do in our society.
These issues have been developing and evolving into more universal concerns as I have expanded my knowledge through my travels to other countries and other cultures, which has enriched my discourse, taking my preoccupations to a more global and a more current level.
Ihaveneverbeenprejudicedabouttheuseofmaterials,usinganymediumatmydisposal. Fromaninitial concept, I always look for the material that I consider most appropriate to express what I wish to convey. I spent most of my career training myself in different media, bringing a certain versatility to my
work. Despite this great diversity, this approach to media provides a strand of consistency and unifies my work as a whole. In fact I see this as an expression of the hybridity of the society that I come from, and a democratization of resources that brings a level of equality to the value of the materials.
Even when my artwork takes a critical view of social, political and cultural themes, such as boat people, climate change, violence against women, or tent cities, my purpose is not to transform society, never the less I seek through my investigations to call attention to issues that disturb and upset me, giving my work the weight of social commitment.

MLR.