Jan Rattia

Jan Rattia is a photographer from Caracas, Venezuela. His work has been exhibitied internationally at such renowned galleries and institutions as the International Center of Photography, Philadelphia Photo Arts Center, Atlanta Contemporary, LOW Museum, Hartsfield- Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Camera Club NY, Bridgette Meyer Gallery, ClampArt NYC, Cindy Lisica Gallery, and the Houston Center for Photography (HCP). Rattia was a Studio Resident Artist at the Atlanta Contemporary (2014-2015), before relocating to Houston in 2016 where his Tease series was awarded the Carol Crow Memorial Fellowship and a solo exhibition in 2017. More recently, features of this work have appeared in numerous publications including Magenta Magazine, Lens Culture, L’Oeil de la Photographie, Free Press Houston, and Houston CityBook. Rattia’s photographs can be found in private and public collections, including the Roy Eddey Collection and the Lucinda Bunnen Photography Collection at the High Museum of Art.

Nowhere Familiar, 2017

Landings, 2018

Grenade Nation, 2017

L A N D I N G S

Through a diverse series of figurative subjects, provocative and poignant objects, LANDINGS explores the ongoing political crisis in my native country of Venezuela. The images in the body of work look at immigrant identity in congruence with the fluid concepts of home and place, situated within the context of contemporary American society. The photographs hint at personal and social narratives while simultaneously opening up the possibilities to that which is unexplained.

The juxtaposition of symbolic objects, such as a cuatro (a South American four-string guitar), an orchid (Venezuela’s national flower), or a pomegranate, alongside a purposeful selection of people as subjects elicit multiple sensations, from conflict and mortality to beauty and memory. A site-specific installation remembering the 100+ fallen during the anti-government protests in 2017 was created is part of this series, as street pastings/posters, strongly referencing the visual vernacular of the Caracas in which I grew up.

Orinoco Promise, 2018