Guatemalan artist Roxana Giracca was introduced to me by another Guatemalan based artist, who has also been featured on the Recyclenation.com blog, Elisa Guerra. Roxana is specifically located in one of the main tourist destinations in the country of Guatemala – Antigua. Originally from Guatemala City, Roxana is the daughter of an architect and a civil engineer. Her two sisters are a writer and an architect, respectively. Essentially: Art runs deep in Roxana’s family.
As a career artist, Roxana creates sculptures and paintings, but above all, she focuses on art utilizing objet trouvé, French for “found object.” Roxana has been creating art for as long as she can remember, but when she was 14 years old, the nuns at the Bonlanden Institut in Germany gave her a definite push in the direction of art and found objects. However, those nuns weren’t her only inspiration. She told me how her first inspiration was a family trip to Europe, where her family went all over the continent, visiting museums, art galleries and everything one could imagine having to do with art. Everything from Viking museums in Scandinavia to Parisian and Spanish museums.
Roxana utilizes all kinds of recycled materials when creating art, including items such as paper, computer motherboards, musical instruments, shoe polishing boxes, Barbie dolls, toys, buttons, Legos, bottles, faucets, vinyl records, DVDs, CDs, and X-Ray and MRI plates, among other items.
She hasn’t had her own exhibition, yet. However, Roxana has been given the opportunity to participate in several collective exhibitions at Museo Ixchel and Caos Art Gallery, among others.
When I asked Roxanna, “Do you think eco-art will ever become mainstream?” she replied, “I think it already is, just look around.” This definitely got a laugh out of me. Not because I don’t think it is mainstream. I just loved how blunt it was and how it made me reflect on how I talk about eco-art. Roxana inadvertently brought up a great point. At some point, we must treat eco-art like it is mainstream, or how else will it become mainstream otherwise?
As far as recycling is concerned, Roxana explained that there are a lot of interesting things going on with paper, aluminum, plastic and wood recycling. As an example, Roxana mentioned Sea Freight container housing, which is similar to the tiny house trend of tiny houses. These containers are being re-used to create homes and, in some instances, they are meant to serve a more artistic purpose.
For those who want to find out more about Roxana, please check out her Facebook page “Apasionarte Antigua”. You’re bound to find some piece of art that either catches your eye or resonates with you. As for me, I loved seeing a motorcycle tank painted with her logo on it.
Roxanna’s Facebook is also great about sharing some tips for how to reuse and repurpose items around your home. Some of the images there have a very “lifehack” kind of feel.
If you or anyone else you know may be creating eco-art or repurposing items around their home, we’d love to hear more about it! Find me on Twitter @_ryanoconnor and tell me more!
