The Sweat Life
Ladia Guerra
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Ladia is fascinated by the artificial world created by contemporary society and is interested in the actions we take to make our lives happier through consumption and social pressure. She observes this by researching American pop culture through social media, television, and personal experience and manipulates her observations through the self. The self acts as a blank canvas to express feelings about her upbringing and her culture.
The Sweat Life explores domestic spaces and the way in which we interact in and view them. The artist has created video works conveying the feeling of loneliness, belonging, and the somewhat grotesque nature of private domestic spaces. The videos insight laughter, feelings of unease, and offer a psychological twist on what a domestic space can be through the lens of commercial objects and characters.
This was a Cohen Artistic Promise Prize Exhibition alongside Victoria Kue's what's her face.
The 2016 Cohen Artistic Promise Prize recognized two graduating seniors whose work, hunger, sustained growth and ambition marked them out as those who would continue on as artists beyond their academic training. The Prize, which granted the recipients concurrent solo shows at the Cohen 18 months following graduation, was designed to foster the growth begun in school, encourage the continuation of artistic practice and support the drive needed to reach full artistic potential.
