Artist Statement
I grew up enchanted by fantastical stories found in books, folklore, movies, and playing games of make-belief. Growing up in Latin America during the ideological tensions and economic fallout of the Cold War led me to recognize how sociopolitical factors in a global scale affect individual outcome, and how structures of power can negate free will and individual choice.
Re-imagination and transformation are overarching themes in my work. In analog photography, light transforms ordinary matter into something new that represents the “real” world: this magical quality has fascinated me since my first roll of film. I use photography not to represent the “real” world, but to transform it, influenced by authors of magical-realism and artists of Surrealism. I contemplate popular culture, particularly how images in media are used as commodities to elicit desire, and to support structures of power based on the exclusion of individuals based on wealth, gender, race, sexual orientation, ethnicity, country of origin, and religious beliefs.
Bio
Mariana Pereira Vieira (b. Brazil 1983) is a multi-media artist and arts educator based in Colorado, USA. She received a BFA in Photography from Georgia Southern University and an MFA in Interdisciplinary Media Arts Practices from the University of Colorado Boulder. Mariana’s artwork has been featured in exhibitions at the Museo de las Américas, Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities, the Dairy Center for the Arts, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, the Center for Fine Art Photography, the Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Lenscratch, among others. In 2019, she was awarded the first Denis Roussel Fellowship from the Center for Fine Art Photography. In 2017, she curated the Colorado edition of The States Project for Lenscratch. Her latest project, Touching, received an Honorable Mention Award from the Center for the Humanities and the Arts from the University of Colorado Boulder. She is currently Interdisciplinary Media Arts Practices Coordinator at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Email: vieira.mpv{at}gmail.com
IG: mariana.vieira.too
Links
• Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art Virtual Studio Tour: https://vimeo.com/450272931
• Lenscratch Feature: http://lenscratch.com/2017/12/mariana-vieira-the-states-project-colorado/
• La Nueva Cara at Museo de las Américas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O01BPpzitbI
• Denis Roussel Fellowship, Center for Fine Art Photography: https://c4fap.org/denis-roussel
Education
2009 MFA Media Arts, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO
2005 BFA Photography Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA Summa Cum Laude
Teaching
2014-2018 Photography Lecturer, University of Colorado Denver, College of Arts and Media, Visual Arts Department
2007-2009 Graduate Instructor (Instructor of Record), Dept. of Art and Art History, University of Colorado Boulder
2006-2007 Instructor, Continuing Education, University of Colorado at Boulder
Professional Experience
2019-Present Interdisciplinary Media Arts Practices Coordinator, University of Colorado Boulder.
2016-Present Print Lab Manager, Dept. of Art and Art History, University of Colorado Boulder.
2014-16 Director of Education and Programs, Colorado Photographic Arts Center. Denver, CO
2011-13 Studio Coordinator of Photography and New Media, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snowmass Village, CO
2006-09 Studio Manager and Lab Coordinator, Photography Department, University of Colorado at Boulder
Selected Exhibitions
2021
Processing Narratives, Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Denver, CO
Viral Influence: Art in time of Coronavirus, Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities, Arvada, CO
La Nueva Cara/The New Face, Month of Photography Denver, Museo de las Américas, Denver, CO
2020
Brutal Realities, Dairy Arts Center, Boulder CO
2019
Whichcraft, Next Stage Gallery, Denver Performing Arts Complex, Denver, CO
Art of the State, Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities, Arvada, CO
2018
Tiny Art Show, R2 Gallery, Carbondale Arts, Carbondale, CO
1st Annual Members Exhibition, Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO Honorable Mention
Call and Response: Art as Resistance, Photographic Center Northwest, Seattle, WA
2017
Interference, Artwork Network Underground, Denver, CO
When Things Are Strange, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND
Call and Response: Art as Resistance, Syntax Physic Opera, Denver, CO
2016
Center Forward, Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO
Photography Re-Imagined: The Artist's Hand, Tilt Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
Faux, Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO
CSArt Colorado Participant Artist, Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art & Denver Botanical Gardens
2015
I’ve Never Seen That Before, Canyon Gallery, Boulder Public Library
Photosynthesis: SW Voices, Republic Plaza, Denver, CO
CU Denver Faculty Exhibition, Emmanuel Gallery, Denver, CO
Continuum: The BFSDoArt Alumni Biennial, Center for Art & Theatre, Georgia Southern University
2014
Dashing and Crashing, Hyperlink Gallery, Chicago, IL
Still Life, Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO
CPAC 2014 Member’s Show, Colorado Photographic Arts Center
Of Memory, Bone, and Myth, Rourke Art Museum, Moorhead, MN
One by One, Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Special Mention
2013
65°: An Exhibition of Contemporary Encaustic Art, The Nave Gallery, Somerville, MA
Miniatures, Art Center Sarasota, Sarasota, FL
From P to R, Booth Gallery, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snowmass Village, CO
2012
Small Wonders, Aspen Chapel, Aspen, CO
Delusion, Center for Creative Photography, Fort Collins, CO
Story Swap, Red Brick Arts Center, Aspen, CO
Creative Forces, Studio for Arts and Works, Carbondale, Colorado
2011
Energy as Currency, LivAspenArt, Aspen, CO
Snap: A National Juried Photography Exhibition, Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA
Bright Bites, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Patton-Malott Gallery, Snowmass Village,CO
No Mirrors: Camera-less Photography, Rayko Photo Center, San Francisco, CA
Worlds Within, University Memorial Center Art Gallery, University of Colorado at Boulder
Down the Rabbit Hole, Hinterland Art Space, Denver, CO
2010
Works by Mariana Vieira, Gideon Gartner Gallery, Snowmass Village, CO (Solo)
Light Show, Marxhausen Gallery of Art, Concordia University, Seward, NE
Think Big, Aspen Chapel, Aspen, CO
2009
Too Much Love, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snowmass Village, CO
MFA Exhibition, Space 3, Boulder, CO
2008
Transitions: International Student Exhibition on Social & Ecological Changes, Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Medellín and Sede Amazonia in Letícia, Colombia
Workshops and Lectures
2014
A Collective Vision, Society for Photographic Educators Southwest Conference. Transformations in Photography (Imagemaker Presentation)
All Mixed Up: Mixing Photographs Workshop, Wyly Community Art Center, Basalt, CO
Exploring Alternative Processes Workshop, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snowmass Village, CO
2013
The Road Not Taken: a new approach to photographing, David Hilliard and Mariana Vieira, Anderson Ranch Arts Center
Photoshop for Artists Workshop, Anderson Ranch Arts Center
2012
Digital Photography Field Workshop in Aix-en-Provence, France, Anderson Ranch Arts Center
Open Studio for Photography and Digital Media, Anderson Ranch Arts Center
Digital Image Processing Adobe Lightroom, Anderson Ranch Arts Center
Explorations in Photographic Output, Anderson Ranch Arts Center
Artist Lecture Series: Mariana Vieira, Anderson Ranch Arts Center
2011
Fantastic Fables: digital photography, Anderson Ranch Arts Center