Artborne Magazine October 2016 | Page 41

Studio shot of two untitled works in progress, maps, acrylic, and ink Veil, stained maps of reality, Martinez calls attention to the actual lives at stake in our defense of imagined borders. The maps cut to resemble chain-link fences and nets implicate the structures built to enforce these borders. Martinez speaks on his interest in the metaphorical materiality: “structurally [nets] are similar to fences… the connotations of catching, fishing, swarms of school fish. The vocabulary used in the media to describe immigrants is very intentional. A surge, a wave, an avalanche… and so on. All these descriptive words void the conversation of any humanity and further the people’s fear of the other.” Perhaps by dissecting the mediums and metaphors through which we perceive our physical relationship with reality, like Martinez, we can begin to better understand how our identities are informed by these representations. You can see maore at: FidencioMartinez.com Orlando’s Art Scene, v. 1.4 40