Mantra is a text-based subtle movement of characters that are being typed in a screen in a rhythm that resembles the editing process of texting. The animation explores the repetitive cycles of emotional and sexual relationships and the constant search for connections and pleasure as part of our human condition.

Javier Maria, Mantra (2017). GIF.

My work focuses on the effects of standardization within the medical context and how it is bound to linguistic structures, formal syntax, and archival forms that lead to structural violence. I am interested in the redundancy and uniformity of paperwork as an inherent characteristic of bureaucratic models.

About Smack Mellon

Smack Mellon is a nonprofit arts organization located in DUMBO, Brooklyn. Smack Mellon’s mission is to nurture and support emerging, under-recognized mid-career and women artists in the creation and exhibition of new work, by providing exhibition opportunities, studio workspace, and access to equipment and technical assistance for the realization of ambitious projects. We see ourselves as a vehicle whereby under-represented artists can create, explore and exhibit their creative ideas outside the concerns of the commercial art world, offering many artists the exposure and recognition they deserve.