Newhaven Open: Maria de la O Garrido, The Yellow That You Bring (or Why Yellow Doesn’t Have to Be Yellow)

I’m from Linares, Andalucía (Spain), and I’ve been living in the United Kingdom for over a decade. After studying Fine Arts at the Polytechnic University of Valencia, I moved to London, where I completed a Master’s in Photography, Practices and Philosophies at Central Saint Martins. 

I work mainly with image, video, and performance. I create my own photographs as well as incorporate found ones, often using them in a sculptural way, through installations and 4D collages. The archive plays a central role in my practice; I don’t just create and use archival material also venerate it.  My practice focuses above all on the analysis of those aspects of my environment that I find troubling or unsatisfactory, aiming to transform them into tools of resistance. This process is one of constant transformation and recycling, both of experiences and materials.

The Yellow That You Bring (or Why Yellow Doesn’t Have to Be Yellow) is an installation exploring yellow as something that extends beyond colour to embody hope, subversion and joy. Combining dysfunctional machines, photography, analogue collage, video and sound, the work brings together traces of Portsmouth and contributions from its communities to consider migration, belonging and collective identity. At its centre, Yellow Machine III uses a pasta maker to produce a sequence of images combining the artist’s photographs with images shared by friends and former workshop participants. A continuous video collage brings together imagined yellow scenarios, found footage and a collaborative sound map of Portsmouth, featuring locations across the city and residents from different countries saying the word “yellow” in their own languages. Through repetition, exchange and collaboration, the work reflects on how communities continually reshape and return stories of place, belonging and collective identity.