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In celebration of Lincoln Center’s Summer for the City Festival, Lilian Martinez has created the image, Calla Lily Dancer.
Known for her flat, bold style, Martinez combines architectural elements with contemporary pop cultural references to create settings for her portraits, landscapes, and still life. Her work centers on brown bodies that were historically omitted from such representations, re-contextualizing the roles of both artist and subject. In these safe settings, female figures relax, play and enjoy their leisure time. In Calla Lily Dancer, Martinez employs symbols such as the coconut, candle, and calla lily to convey nourishment, hope and strength, respectively. Additionally, there is also a nod to the architectural design of the Metropolitan Opera in the background.
Martinez (b. 1986, Chicago, IL) earned her BFA in Photography from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and currently lives and works in Michigan. Her work has been exhibited at the Green Family Art Foundation, Taubman Museum of Art, The Naughton Gallery, and Taymour Grahne, among other institutions. Martinez is represented by OCHI Gallery.
