TARRAH KRAJNAK acquisition by the V&A Museum!
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
9 Dec 2022
The important and timely work of Peruvian artist Tarrah Krajnak critiques the canon of Westernised photography to reimagine, replay and reclaim it, as an Indigenous woman of colour. Her interests include the notion of the ‘archive’ and specifically what and who is remembered, and how. A group of her cyanotypes form the first Parasol Foundation Women in Photography acquisition.
1979: Contact Negatives was a staged performance in which Krajnak projected newspaper images of Peru’s violent political upheaval during the year of her birth on to herself. As the self portraits imaginatively ‘return’ her body to her birthplace to explore her unresolved identity as a Peruvian woman, these pictures make visible how personal and collective memory is constructed and archived.
The acquisition meets the Parasol Foundation Women in Photography program remit to support contemporary living artists and highlight the contribution that women of colour make to photography.
The acquisition will go on display next year, as part of the opening celebrations and inaugural exhibition within the Photography Centre.