Rodrigo Valenzuela frames “Marginal” through photography rooted in materiality, where light, surface and object combine to make visible what is often pushed out of view. The show gathers recent works from his recent series, each piece utilizing photography as both document and construct. Valenzuela’s approach reveals that edges—physical, social and political—carry as much weight as centers.
One of the photographic methods employed in “Weapons” involves large-scale silkscreen prints of tools assembled from found, industrial debris. On collaged time cards mounted on canvas, these “weapons” are still lives made antagonistic: sharp edges, worn textures and shadows that deepen crevices and hollows. In “Weapon 43” (2022), for example, industrial fragments are arranged into a colossal form, suggesting both ruin and blueprint. Geometry and texture drive the composition, transforming hardware into emblems of survival and self-organization. Photography doesn’t simply record the object but animates its potential, tracing its silhouette against quiet light until material becomes metaphor.
Read the full review at the link to Musee Magazine.
