CHARLA: flowers

flowers is a single-channel video constructed of conversations happening with the self and shared between two artists. An inner dialogue of these two artists working, making, feeling, experiencing, thinking and living in the world today. These audio recordings were recorded in a month’s time span and shared with one another without edits or cuts in hopes to open up about concerns, thoughts, hopes, dreams and fears and not hear responses back, but instead to allow these words to be released, heard and exist without judgment. With the inner dialogue being the most important voice in our practices as artists and the first voice we hear when making decisions within our practice and our day to day lives, this Charla, was done in hopes of deepening relationship, kinship, respect, love and ultimately strengthening our ties as members of one another’s community

Bio

Stephanie Concepcion Ramirez is a Salvadoran-American artist from Prince George’s County, Maryland. Her practice combines the language of photography with site-specific installations and text. Her work is based on notions of memory, personal and historical amnesia that trace the veins of the Central American diaspora. In an attempt to reconcile with her personal and cultural histories and memories, she creates work to validate truth, false memories, filtered history and fantasy. 

Ramirez has taught photography at UT Austin and has been an artist in residence at The Studios at MASS MOCA, ACRE Residency and Northwestern Oklahoma State University. Her work has been exhibited and screened at FotoFest in conjunction with the 2021 Texas Biennial, Women and Their Work Gallery, the Visual Arts Center at the University of Texas, Co-Lab Projects, Cage Match Project, MASS Gallery, The Union, MECA, and Aurora Picture Show among others and has been featured in publications including the Austin Chronicle, The Horchata Zine, Hyperallergic, the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express News. She is a recipient of The Foundation of Contemporary Art Emergency Fund. 

Ramirez received her BFA at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA and her MFA at the University of Texas at Austin, Texas. She currently resides and works on the occupied land of the Akokisa and Karankawa tribes, known today as League City, Texas