Teresa Bracamonte
“I AM YOUR FANTASY”
From Runway to Reality
Teresa Bracamonte, an artist hailing from Peru who has been residing in Paris since 2017, embarked on a modeling career in Lima from the age of 18 to 26. While immersed in the world of beauty standards and the commercial use of her image, she made the decision to "play the game" in order to fund her artistic endeavors.
Eventually, she decided to leave the world of fashion behind and fully commit herself to photography. Armed with her camera, she ventured into different realities, particularly the marginalized communities of Lima, where she captured images of transsexuals, marginalized individuals, and the world of prostitution. This artistic approach was a part of her ongoing quest for identity and the reclamation of her own body and image.
In 2020, Teresa began creating portraits of nude women and gradually pushed the boundaries of self-portraiture. In 2022, she created a series of self-portraits that are both captivating and unsettling in their sensuality and underlying violence. In these works, she embodies the sensuality that men dream of and draws them into a sweet yet dangerous reverie.
Seductive Brushstrokes
As a body painter, Teresa uses bold and expressive brushstrokes, and her contrasting chiaroscuro compositions intentionally leave the sketch visible on reclaimed wooden boards and canvas. Her portraits and self-portraits often feature slightly larger-than-life bodies, conveying a complex sense of provocation and desire, challenging the viewer with their direct gazes.
Her paintings may appear unfinished, with vibrant brushstrokes that mirror the symbolic female figures she embodies – femmes fatales, saints, prostitutes, BDSM personas, erotica, and elements of pornography. These bodies in provocative states evolve, transform, reveal themselves, and then conceal, leaving desire awakened.
For her exhibition 'I am your Fantasy,' Teresa creates a neon installation that features a bold phrase in luminous red, handcrafted by the artist herself. This phrase evokes the red neon signs that mark areas associated with sexual exploitation. It serves as a call for emancipation, encouraging women to react and regain ownership of their bodies, images, and lives.
Teresa Bracamonte's art delves into the history of femininity and questions the role of women in society through their representation. It challenges the mechanisms of a male-dominated society where women may be consciously or unconsciously subjected to perverse systems of reward and punishment, love, or rejection.
In her latest series of photographic self-portraits, created specifically for this exhibition, Teresa transforms her face into ten different variations of inflatable dolls. In this stark and unsettling portrayal of an object widely used for mass sexual consumption, she takes the concept of the woman as an object to an extreme level.
For Teresa Bracamonte, seduction, rather than mere provocation, becomes a means of communication and inquiry, ultimately forging a subtle and sensual connection with the audience.
I AM YOUR FANTASY
How far can we go in distancing ourselves from our true selves to fulfill someone else's desires? "I am your fantasy" represents an artistic exploration of women portrayed as objects of desire. The aim is to provoke questions about female identity as a construct molded by the male perspective, shedding light on the objectification, sexualization, and hypersexualization of women.
In today's Western society, where the influence of patriarchy still lingers, we are conditioned from a young age to seek approval and conform to male expectations. Inevitably, we find ourselves entangled in this societal system, compelled to "play the game" in order to survive.
We consciously or unconsciously shape our identity as a survival strategy, often choosing to present ourselves as objects of desire. Seduction, in this context, becomes a double-edged sword, an additional tool that can either emancipate us or, conversely, lead us astray into the fantasies of others.
Do women, who have grown accustomed to constant scrutiny, even in their most vulnerable moments, continue to wear the masks assigned to them by society?
This exhibition documents my personal journey of self-discovery and evolution as a female artist over the past few years, captured through the mediums of photography and painting. Self-portraiture, for me, has evolved into a means of empowerment, allowing me to assert myself and explore subjects that are both universal and deeply personal.
In the universal quest for acceptance and belonging, driven by a desire to please and be loved, we often lose touch with our authentic selves in favor of projecting an image that pleases others.
To what extent do we ultimately distance ourselves and lose our true identity, which morphs into a fiction or an illusion? Do we forget who we are or who we truly aspire to be, becoming mere embodiments of someone else's fantasies?
