10 Questions with Omar Reyna

Omar Reyna (b. 1971, México City) is a Canadian artist exploring chemical as well as digital photography and mixing it with sculptural elements and other art practices. He interacted with diverse art forms early in his life; photography came many years later at university and never left. Omar moved to Whitehorse in 2008 after living in a megalopolis for more than three decades. Canada's north was a perception change for him: Yukon's natural environment offered him an incomparable backdrop where he felt in tune making art. His relationship with this land has altered the outcome of his artistry endeavour. 

He has a degree in Visual Communication, a Diploma in Philosophy of Image, a Diploma in Contemporary Art Photography. He also has studied sculpture with the OCA. He has a 9 to 5 job and juggles his free time between his art practice and maintaining a healthy lifestyle at home.

omarreyna.ca | @omar_reyna_flores

ARTIST STATEMENT

Omar Reyna sees his art practice as an act of contriving worlds beyond the visible, between the real and the imagined. He aims to trigger events and actions that connect, disturb, and question what we perceive. Life is full of those events.

He has found correspondence to his art narratives in death and illness, as in "Perishable corporality"; in the irrational violence of humanity, as in "We, the animals"; in the face of the unknown, when we put meaning where none exists, as in "Forces". We establish an active stance against what we see, as in "Landscapes" or when we develop empathy with the other to ease the burden of being, as in the series "Alter." In all his photographic series, creating and capturing what is not visible is a constant.

Omar works in between photography and the physical manipulation of objects and materials. His approach is much as cerebral as a physical engagement. Research and reflection are a big part of his process, but he also thinks, articulates, and conceptualizes through the activity of making. He believes that holding the photographic camera and moving with it can be, besides a physical act of beautiful complexity, a philosophical, poetic, and violent gesture. Many of his art-making processes rely on an unfocused mind where he makes progress eluding direct thinking.

INTERVIEW

You work with many different mediums, although photography is your main interest. How did you start getting involved with art? 

Photography made me think seriously about art. The photographic act, at least the way I conceived it in my own practice, is the ultimate art form-wrap for other art mediums—all of them driving towards a unified and highly manipulated output: the photographic. The inclusion of borrowed elements from sculpture, painting and some performative postures in the images I produce is an example. This art creation approach got me involved with art in the first place and still continues to do so.

In your youth, when did you realize that you were going to become an artist?

I was a very artsy-oriented kid, always drawing and building things with paper, glue, colours, etc. Besides that, there was a period when I was young where my mom was very interested in visiting museums or attending live classical music concerts on the weekends and lucky me, I was always welcome to join her. All these influences impacted me; so, perhaps when I was eight years old, I saw a live painting demo, and I thought to myself: I want to do it! I want to create like that too! 

And out of all the experiences you did, what is the one dearest to your heart?

More than a particular experience is how I embrace my experiences: I try not to question them too much, just to live them. There is something special about the artistic creation act that allows me to follow my instincts at the deepest levels, and perhaps, there is where my heart is.

In your work, you aim to "trigger events and actions that connect, disturb and question what we perceive." How do you achieve this and what is the main goal of your work?

In a general sense, the main goal of my art is to provoke an emotional reaction. The themes I choose are taken directly from my lived experiences. I want to challenge the person who sees my work to connect with what is perceived in my art. If this connection is made, then the meaning of the image comes into question. To fulfill this idea, I develop and execute an action plan through research and experimentation. After analyzing all the variables discovered and consciously forgetting about them, I made the final pieces. 

What was the creative process for your series "Alter," and what did you learn from its production?

Alter was a full-of-feelings project with a bodily process. I see this series as the result of the synchronization of emotions with the Other. It was an exercise of empathy in an attempt to ease the burden of life. There was a little rehearsal before each shot to establish how actions and gestures will determine the body's final posture. I was learning by the experience and contributing to the process quasi simultaneously. The greatest lesson learnt was to realize that the materials of our knowledge are all supplied by experience. 

What was the most challenging part of your project?

The creation of Alter was a beautiful and rewarding process. The only real challenge I remember was how we gather the rubber tree leaves: at night, out of sight of everyone and going from tree to tree on different streets of México City. 

What do you hope that the public takes away from your work?

I would like that the public is willing to make a connection with my work. If that happens, I hope a similar healing world I contrived in Alter is there for the public to experience. This desire to connect goes for my other series, too, every one of them with its own and different intentions.

Over the last year, how did you adapt to the so-called "new normal," like online exhibitions? Do you think these changes have impacted your work, and in case, how?

The new normal is very strange and different from what we used to call everyday life. I see how my work can be showcased more and more online and less in a physical environment. For someone like me who lives in a remote place, this is not necessarily bad.

What do you think are the biggest challenges that the future holds for photographers like you?

Perhaps the biggest challenge for a photographer like me is that the possibilities for creation are endless. 

And lastly, what is one goal or dream you have for this year?

To keep creating as much as I can.