Claudia Ruiz Gustafson
We are so happy to feature the works of Claudia Ruiz Gustafson. An artist, curator and educator Claudia’s works have been exhibited in the Danforth museum, Griffin Museum among others. Additionally the work has been recognized by the Massachusetts Cultural Council and published in Fraction Magazine, Artscope Magazine plus she’s published several books and operates a portrait photography business in the Boston area. A busy woman, we are just so pleased to share her work.
- Steven Duede, Fine Art Photographer, Aspect Principal
Claudia Ruiz Gustafson
Just one of Claudia Ruiz-Gustafson’s images yields a powerful reaction, and her merging of text and image is poetic. Her work is primarily autobiographical, and her process of creating each piece allows her to reflect on the past. The Historias Fragmentadas series is an exercise in memory and discovery. In piecing together her family history in Peru and her immigration to the United States, she uses collage to uncover stories and secrets and consider the person she is today. Each chapter in the series as well as each work within a chapter adds another layer to her life’s narrative.
Maria is the third and last chapter of Historias Fragmentadas. Each chapter is deeply personal, and Claudia used the second and third chapters to delve into the life of one particular person, and to merge their role in her past with how she tells her story in the present. Some images in Maria are collaged but we predominantly see scenarios that appear like film stills—her subject is caught in a moment. Claudia writes that, “María is a conversation with the past, an intimate and personal revelation of connection and loss between where we come from and where we are,” which is a beautiful summary of the entire series. Objects and their connection to memory are a frequent subject for artists, and can weave a most complex narrative when in the right hands. Claudia’s work mesmerizes as spaces, objects, and light connect her past to her present.
Jessica Roscio
Director and Curator, Danforth Art Museum at Framingham State University
Together we explored the same walls, the same floors, the same light that entered the same windows that my María experienced. The furniture and ornaments that she touched have remained unchanged over the years. Traveling to María’s hometown helped me connect with her memory. Through this project, I was able to honor an important woman in my life and the unconditional love that she gave me.
María
María is the inspiration for the third and last chapter of Historias fragmentadas, a photographic exercise of memory and imagination. While reflecting on my story, I noticed there was one important person missing; a live-in maid my parents hired when we moved to the suburbs of Lima when I was seven. She doesn’t appear in any family portrait and sadly, we don’t have record of her last name or her birthday. Domestic help in Perú is usually hired without written contracts, so attempts to locate her would be futile. Her name was María, and she eventually left us to start a family of her own. It was a sad departure for me because María had been my confidante, my friend, and my teacher, during a vulnerable time in my life. She sang to me in Quechua, the beautiful language of the Andes; she grew chamomile flowers for my anxiety; and she taught me simple games when I was lonely.
I created this series in my family home in Lima, Perú and in María’s home town of Villa El Salvador to photograph the streets where she might have walked. I worked with a Quechua woman whose name, coincidentally, was also María. For weeks we collaborated in the house where my parents still live today. Together we explored the same walls, the same floors, the same light that entered the same windows that my María experienced. The furniture and ornaments that she touched have remained unchanged over the years. Traveling to María’s hometown helped me connect with her memory. Through this project, I was able to honor an important woman in my life and the unconditional love that she gave me.
María is a conversation with the past, an intimate and personal revelation of connection and loss between where we come from and where we are.
- Claudia Ruiz Gustafson
Claudia Ruiz Gustafson
Claudia Ruiz Gustafson is a Peruvian-born, Massachusetts-based visual artist, educator and curator. Her work is mainly autobiographical and self-reflective; often portraying themes of femininity, memory, family, dreams and personal mythology. She regards image making as a powerful medium for exploring her own inner world.
Claudia has exhibited in museums and galleries across the US and abroad at venues including the Danforth Art Museum, Agora Gallery, Millepiani Gallery, Galleria Valid Foto, Fountain Street Gallery, Griffin Museum of Photography, Cambridge Art Association, Concord Center for the Arts and the RI Center for Photographic Arts. She had her first solo show in 2020 at the Multicultural Arts Center in Cambridge, MA titled Historias de Tierra y Mar (Stories of Land and Sea).
She has received grants and awards from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Cambridge Art Association, L.A. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards, PX3 de la Photographie Paris, The Gala Awards, among others. Her work has been published in Fraction Media, Black & White Magazine, Shades Collective, F-Stop Magazine and has been reviewed by Artscope Magazine, Metrowest Daily News and What Will You Remember.
Claudia has self published several books that incorporate her photography and poetry. She is the owner of a portrait photography business and also teaches creative photo workshops in the Boston area. Currently she is curator and participating artist of the traveling exhibition Crossing Cultures: Family, Memory and Displacement, a multi-media project made up of artwork created by multi-cultural artists reflecting on identity and diaspora.
She holds a BA in Communications from Universidad de Lima, and a Professional Photography Certificate from Kodak Interamericana de Perú.