Lia Chavez is a New York-based visual and performance artist primarily concerned with how creation is generated through relational dynamics. Her work is in dialogue with light mysticism, archetypal geometry and philosophical notions of embodiment and ontological becoming. Her practice incorporates a diverse range of media with an emphasis on performance-generated photography. She has been presented in numerous exhibitions internationally including Savannah College of Art and Design, Atlanta (2010); The Armory Show, New York (2009); 52nd and 53rd Venice Biennale (2007 & 2009); Frieze Art Fair, London (2009); Affirmation Arts, New York (2008); and 10th Istanbul Biennial (2007). Following a fellowship in Gender Theory and Visual Cultures at the University of Oxford, she attended Goldsmiths College in London as an ORSAS Scholar and a Harvey Fellow. There, she earned her Master’s degree in Photography and a Master of Philosophy in Visual Art, specializing in 20th century process philosophy. Chavez has given lectures as a visiting artist at numerous institutions in the US and Europe and is a contributor to the Huffington Post. Her forthcoming hardcover monograph, A Thousand Rainbows, will be published by Damiani in 2013.
Of her practice, Chavez states, "Creation is the emanation of relational harmony. Long ago, before representation existed, the image was a dynamic site of presence, intimate union and life. I seek to excavate this reality in my art. I do not use digital manipulation to create my photographic work, choosing instead a process which honors the integrity of performance and the poetics of the most basic physical phenomena, such as the propagation of light, the passage of time, the geometry of space and the motion of bodies."