Kelly Parisi Castro is currently using photography and video to create images of ocean water. Her interest is twofold: one, to explore the formal aspects of the ocean, the raw sensual beauty, and secondly to call attention to the problem of plastics pollution in our seas. Prior, her work has explored the formal aspects of water in natural and man-made situations, especially pools. Earlier work has addressed memory, drama and social relationships between women. Please see www.kellycastro.com.
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Castro is Adjunct Professor in the Department of Art and Art History at Washington College, Chestertown MD, where she teaches Environmental and Public Art Studio and Creative Process. She holds an MFA in Fiction Writing, from Spalding University, Louisville, KY, and a BFA in Drawing from Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), Baltimore, MD. Recent exhibitions of her work include shows in Washington, DC, New York City, Minneapolis, MN, Arlington, VA, and Dowell, Cumberland, Chestertown and College Park, MD. Her work is included in a number of private collections.
In 2013 she was awarded a Fellowship at the Virginia Center for Creative Arts (VCCA) Amherst, VA.
Artist’s statement: In my current work (2012-13) I am using photography and video to rearrange images of water, suggesting chaotic or fractal scenarios as I abstractly map our human footprint upon the seas. Video particularly is an amazing medium as one minute in time can contain eons of thought or story; as well it can be delivered to anyone anywhere and almost instantly. No wonder it has completely changed the face of art! My awareness of plastics pollution in our oceans, and specifically: the situation in the five gyres, our threatened marine populations, and climate change are all issues that have focused my work. In all my work I am ever curious about how something came to be. The evolution of art and artists fascinates me. In recent history, artists have been perceived as rather solitary members of small, eccentric groups largely disengaged from the world. Today a thread of that narrative lingers, but globalization combined with the extreme state of the planet has changed the picture. Many artists, including myself, in addition to working solo now regularly team with other artists, scientists, writers, performers, entrepreneurs, and others to co-create on ideas and projects that can be broader, smarter and more evolutionary to the planet as a whole. This approach allows for faster experimentation, and that alone is a big leap.
