artist statement
Lavatelli works in installation, performance,
film and video to examine the portrayal of women, femininity, and expectations
in cinema— how the cinema has fragmented realities and perceived female
identity, specifically her own. She is interested in using installation with
moving image to suspend the construct, the female star in the very unreality
of cinema, in order to foreground the moments which evince objectification.
Her work therefore is a gathering of cinematic fragments of herself, but by
extension also the gathering up of the entire category of femininity, which
continues to suffer from the codifying of the image in popular culture. She
finds instability in women using sex and sexiness for empowerment, there is
a conflict as women continue to become sex objects despite their “owning
it” on the screen, in art, and in the streets.
“I am searching for the moment of transition” (the cut) “where
when wearing red lipstick” (close-up) “while walking down the street
I suddenly” (freeze frame) “become an object for viewing”
(the gaze), “and is this a changeable reality?”
Selected Shows:
2009 As it Lays, VAF Gallery, UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA; The Dark
Tower, Compact Space, Los Angeles, CA; The Fucking Train Wreck, VAF Gallery,
UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA; 17 Days, University of Virginia, VA; 17 Days, CEPA
Gallery, Buffalo, NY; LAGOS III, Videolab, Algarve, Portugal
2008 [PAM], Scope Art Fair, New York, NY; You talkin’
to me?, Gato Vadio, Oporto, Portugal; 17 Days, Richmond Center, Western Michigan
University, Kalamazoo, MI
2007 Artists and Models,
Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center, Buffalo, NY
Open Video Projects, Roma, Italia; [PAM] Artist at Large, Scope ArtFair NYC,
New York, NY; Salon v2 Travel Stories, Bar Matchless, Brooklyn, NY
2006 US Super 8 Film & Digital Video Festival, Rutgers Film Co-op, New Brunswick, NJ; VIDEO-RAMA, Clifford Art Gallery, Colgate University, Hamilton, NY
2005 The Super Intense Decision Show with the Real Dream Cabaret, Buffalo Infringement Festival, Buffalo, NY; Jutro Filmu, Luna Theater, Future of Film Festival, Warsaw, Poland; Local Artists' Residency Show, Squeaky Wheel, Buffalo, NY; Resolutions 04, Hallwalls & Soundlab, Buffalo, NY