Spanish artist Marta Pujades is the author of the image – a still from her video "Reflecting sun on you" – chosen for this edition of Super's campaign, curated by Angelo Figus and inspired by the theme "Out of the Blue”. A flash of light that captures and focuses attention on the context, just as Super does through a careful scouting among the most contemporary and innovative collections of ready-to-wear and accessories for women.
Born in 1990 in Palma de Majorca, where she lives and works, Pujades has been focusing her award-winning research on women's role in society. She has participated in several solo and collective international shows.
In this interview, we asked her more about her creative process, her relationship with fashion, and her future plans.
How would you describe your artistic journey?
Becoming aware of my interest in art was a gradual process. As it happens to many people, the fondness of drawing as a child became the starting point that led me later to delve into different forms of conceiving art. The turning point was when I decided to study Fine Arts at Barcelona University and subsequently get an MA in "Photography and Design" at Pompeu Fabra University and Elisava. After finishing my academic education in 2013, I moved back from Barcelona to my hometown, Palma de Majorca. Since then, I have fully focused on developing my artistic practice, structuring it around different levels of relationship between images and subjects.
I usually use photography as a medium in an exercise of self-reflection. Still, I try to avoid an ontological closed loop, influencing transversely in the context that gives rise to them. When dealing with what is represented, it has led me to approach aspects related to the face and the body and transcend the two-dimensionality of the photographic support towards performance practices. I am currently developing works that propose interactions between the physical body and its representation, the movement of both the real body and the filmed one.
Can you tell us a bit more about the Super campaign's image?
"Reflecting Sunlight on You" belongs to a series of works titled "Index", where I approach photographic images evidencing some of the attributes and conditions that form them. "Index" is a semiotic term that designates physical contiguity of a sign with its referent. This correlation between the two does not necessarily imply the definition of the meaning it may contain: the index affirms the existence of what it represents (Barthes' "this-has-been"), but it tells us nothing about its meaning.
In "Reflecting Sunlight on You", I appear on the seashore using a signal mirror; these types of mirrors are commonly used by hikers to reflect a light source as an alert in case of getting lost or finding themselves in a dangerous situation. By directing the mirror towards the Sun, you can direct the flashes where you want to draw attention. Precisely this action operates at all levels according to indexical logic, the light signals alert us to an event, however, its significance remains veiled unless we are an active part of the situation that produces it.
What is your relationship with fashion like?
I think about fashion as part of my everyday life. We all look at our wardrobe in the morning to choose the clothes we are going to wear depending on what we have to do during the day. I'm also convinced that what we wear influences our mood and can become an ally in making us feel more at ease in different situations. On the other hand, it is important for me to understand the impact that the fashion industry has on the environment. I'm trying to develop certain criteria when deciding to buy a garment or not in the same way we select the food of our diet. For example, I usually read the garments' label to know their composition; only then can I be sure what material it is made of and in what percentages, if it is a sustainable material or simply the one I'm looking for. To follow a sustainable and more cost-effective lifestyle, I think it is advisable to invest in pieces that will last, that you really like and that do not go out of style quickly.
What are your future goals and aspirations?
Currently, the world is going through a challenging situation dominated by uncertainty. It is indisputable that we live a paradigm shift, and we need to take advantage of it, rethinking certain aspects of our life positively. We live in a system that always requires us to produce more, consume more, generate new ideas; where nothing is reused. And this goes through us socially at all levels. We are constantly seeing how no one is invulnerable and that we need to take care of ourselves and others. I would like these thoughts to endure and serve us to correct some self-destructive dynamics in which we participate by inertia.
Born in 1990 in Palma de Majorca, where she lives and works, Pujades has been focusing her award-winning research on women's role in society. She has participated in several solo and collective international shows.
In this interview, we asked her more about her creative process, her relationship with fashion, and her future plans.
How would you describe your artistic journey?
Becoming aware of my interest in art was a gradual process. As it happens to many people, the fondness of drawing as a child became the starting point that led me later to delve into different forms of conceiving art. The turning point was when I decided to study Fine Arts at Barcelona University and subsequently get an MA in "Photography and Design" at Pompeu Fabra University and Elisava. After finishing my academic education in 2013, I moved back from Barcelona to my hometown, Palma de Majorca. Since then, I have fully focused on developing my artistic practice, structuring it around different levels of relationship between images and subjects.
I usually use photography as a medium in an exercise of self-reflection. Still, I try to avoid an ontological closed loop, influencing transversely in the context that gives rise to them. When dealing with what is represented, it has led me to approach aspects related to the face and the body and transcend the two-dimensionality of the photographic support towards performance practices. I am currently developing works that propose interactions between the physical body and its representation, the movement of both the real body and the filmed one.
Can you tell us a bit more about the Super campaign's image?
"Reflecting Sunlight on You" belongs to a series of works titled "Index", where I approach photographic images evidencing some of the attributes and conditions that form them. "Index" is a semiotic term that designates physical contiguity of a sign with its referent. This correlation between the two does not necessarily imply the definition of the meaning it may contain: the index affirms the existence of what it represents (Barthes' "this-has-been"), but it tells us nothing about its meaning.
In "Reflecting Sunlight on You", I appear on the seashore using a signal mirror; these types of mirrors are commonly used by hikers to reflect a light source as an alert in case of getting lost or finding themselves in a dangerous situation. By directing the mirror towards the Sun, you can direct the flashes where you want to draw attention. Precisely this action operates at all levels according to indexical logic, the light signals alert us to an event, however, its significance remains veiled unless we are an active part of the situation that produces it.
What is your relationship with fashion like?
I think about fashion as part of my everyday life. We all look at our wardrobe in the morning to choose the clothes we are going to wear depending on what we have to do during the day. I'm also convinced that what we wear influences our mood and can become an ally in making us feel more at ease in different situations. On the other hand, it is important for me to understand the impact that the fashion industry has on the environment. I'm trying to develop certain criteria when deciding to buy a garment or not in the same way we select the food of our diet. For example, I usually read the garments' label to know their composition; only then can I be sure what material it is made of and in what percentages, if it is a sustainable material or simply the one I'm looking for. To follow a sustainable and more cost-effective lifestyle, I think it is advisable to invest in pieces that will last, that you really like and that do not go out of style quickly.
What are your future goals and aspirations?
Currently, the world is going through a challenging situation dominated by uncertainty. It is indisputable that we live a paradigm shift, and we need to take advantage of it, rethinking certain aspects of our life positively. We live in a system that always requires us to produce more, consume more, generate new ideas; where nothing is reused. And this goes through us socially at all levels. We are constantly seeing how no one is invulnerable and that we need to take care of ourselves and others. I would like these thoughts to endure and serve us to correct some self-destructive dynamics in which we participate by inertia.
