TAINA CRUZ
The Artist
Vimeo
Taina Cruz’s work spans sculpture, 3D animation, and painting and explores themes of blackness, technology, and mysticism.
Her work redirects how we think about technology and seeks to redefine its nature, infiltrate it with Black and indigenous cultural traditions, and dwell within it or inhabit technology in a way that is defined through our traditions of timekeeping, cosmology, and spirituality which have always encompassed and anticipated the principles of metaphysics.
In the colonial imaginary, a time defined by the progress of western technology, the colonized body is not separate from the present but out of place with the future. Time and space are the double work of solidification and of division which are projected upon the moving continuity of reality. Taina Cruz uses a multimedia approach to investigate materiality, cultural identity and futurism in a neo-globalized colonial that is situated in digital networks. Virtual sanctuaries and imagery are vital to envisioning transformations just as physical spaces.
By using digital interfaces, Taina Cruz is able to challenge the dominate thought structure and find resolutions to her ontological existence. Her pieces are a synthesis of her research and examination of these digital atmospheres. She mainly use natural materials, found objects, and digital mediums, which allows the viewer a closer insight on her visual language. She expands these theories to create sculpture, painting and videos in order to explore methods of mapping out the future.