Interview
Jacqueline Delaye
Jacqueline Delaye has a multidisciplinary background based in social studies and arts. She studied Social Anthropology in Mexico city, Cinema and Tv in Barcelona and Art and Culture Management in Paris. She worked as a video artist and documentary filmmaker around Europe. She lived and worked in Berlin, Germany during 11 years, after living in different countries like USA, England, France, Spain, Italy and of course Mexico the place where she was born.
Jacqueline now lives in Portugal in the island of Sao Miguel, where she takes the inspiration of nature. She focuses on the social anthropological aspects of the human being reflecting the adaptation of culture through arts
What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?
“I started in the art world when I was 19 years old. I had already taken photography courses and I was amazed by the visual and social part of the city where I lived, Mexico City, full of contrasts in both socioeconomic and visual aspects. I wanted to show the world the reality in which the lower class of Mexicans live, a place between hope and death. For this reason I decided to take the camera as my means of expression. In the same city of Mexico, I had the opportunity to work in different commercial audiovisual productions (advertising, independent films). At the age of 21 I went to the city of Barcelona to do my audiovisual studies (IDEP) where I had the opportunity to be inspired by the best independent filmmakers and artistic currents.”
What does your work aim to say? Does it comment on any current social or political issues?
“My work is a mixture of apathy, courage and desperation. In order better represent the political issues of the society, I had created the fictional figure of Lady Kunst (Lady Art translated form German) For me life is a theater in which we are all protagonists.
My work focuses on political, social and commercial aspects, making a severe criticism of the current values of the western society, especially luxury, consumption and advertising. As a Mexican, I could not close my eyes to social injustices and corruption, especially in the area of politics. I remember as a child asking my mother why the lady with her children without shoes and her baby in her arms was asking for money, the impact of that impression stayed in my memory forever.
This is my inspiration and objective: to tell a story through photography, a story that is not so easy to read, combining different elements that speak more to the subconscious than to the conscious. My impetus is more of desperation and courage in the face of violence, aggression, ignorance and greed. I like to use myself as the subject of action in the images as this leads me to question the abstract sense of personality. What we are, what we can become, how many different characters we are throughout our lives and above all how deeply we can influence our environment.”
“The excess of color has been my latest trend, because it represents for me the contrasts between life and death, joy and depression.”
Do you plan your work in advance, or is it improvisation?
“The ideas come improvised, it is as if the so-called "muse" existed, it is inevitable. I suppose they come from the impulse I have to express something. For example in the videos I have on "Ich trinke Wein" or "Daily Work" were completely spontaneous works. Just as the ideas came, so I created the photos. On the other hand there are works where the ideas come complete, I only need to acquire the material elements to achieve them. There are also cases where I have a very clear message and I have to work on the idea. I let myself be inspired by the place where I live, at the same time that the remoteness of living in the middle of the ocean makes me observe the events with more objectivity.”
Are there any art world trends are you following?
“Figurative painting and sub-realism inspire my work, also photographic images in relation to social problems, journalism so to speak. I am an artist who likes to be inspired by other artists such as David Lynch, Lars von Trier or painters like Peter Doig. I am also very inspired by the pop art style, the use of intense colours and commercial materials for the scenography of my photos.”
What process, materials and techniques do you use to create your artwork?
“I use scenery a lot. I also like to combine video with photography, likewise in post-production work I use programs like photoshop. My work has developed in different ways, now for example I use post-production more to create surreal images. I like to show the soul of the human being at a technical level and at a narrative level. Also the excess of color has been my latest trend, because it represents for me the contrasts between life and death, joy and depression. I don't like to take perfect photos in the technical sense, on the contrary I play a bit with trash culture since life isn't perfect either. The pleasure that photography gives me as an artistic medium is that it has many facets with which one can reset its message. The use of light, the set design, the post-production, the composition up to pure realism (at Lars von Trier)”
What does your art mean to you?
“ My life itself, I cannot conceive without creating. Since childhood I was fascinated by the idea that advertising messages contained subliminal messages, the idea that through images it was possible to influence the human mind. At the same time the sense of injustice as an impulse vital expression called me to combine both elements and create not only a memory of consciousness but also an aesthetic and entertaining image, because if the image does not attract the mind or the human eye, it most likely will not reach the heart.”
What’s your favourite artwork and why?
“I especially like the works on Capitalism that I did. I made several videos and photographs on this topic. It was around the time that Donald Trump came to power in the United States, so there was a lot of material to draw on.”
Have you had any noteworthy exhibitions you'd like to share?
“I really liked having exhibited my videos for the Cultmag.de magazine because it is a magazine that interconnects with other independent media on art, music, photography, literature.
House of Cultures of Mexico in Paris, “Les ponts”, Paris 2007
Art Festival Blue-Valentine, Paris Video Video Sequence 2006
Organization in Exhibition Gildo Medina, Paris 2006
Production of 30 videos for the governmental company INFONAVIT, Mexico 2006
Video “Magic Afternoon” of Wolfgang Bauer with Jonathan Meese. Angela Richter, Daniel Richter. Kampenagel theater. Hamburg, Germany 2005
Video “Ralf Metzenmacher” ex boss-Design of the Company PUMA, Bamberg, Germany. 2005
ETA Hoffmann theater. Video “Eloisa Está debajo un almendro” from Enrique Gardiel Poncera. Bamberg, Germany 2004
Documentary film about the theater project Magic Afternoon in the Kampenagel theater with artists such as Daniel Richter, Jonathan Messe. Hamburg, Germany. 2004
Artistic video, “Where are you” in Bamberg, Germany. 2004
Reportage about the theater project “Los Figurantes” in the University of Bamberg. Germany 2003 Documentary film about a handicaps factory “Es gibt nur eine Welt” Kulmbach, Germany. 2003
First edition of Film festival Docupolis in Barcelona, Spain Art video “Auto-Conscience”.2001”
Website: www.jacquelinedelaye.com
Instagram: @ladykunst
