Ilana Diddams is an American multidisciplinary artist. They were born and raised in Colorado, but currently reside in Massachusetts where they are completing their BA in Studio Art and Spanish at Smith College. They enjoy working in many mediums but often come back to printmaking, installation, and found materials. Ilana came to ´ace as on part in their 5 months stay in Buenos Aires. It was the culmination of an academic exchange program during which they not only learned Spanish and most of their classes were related to Argentine and Latin American history, but they also immersed themselves in Buenos Aires and its culture. It was during these classes that Ilana came to be interested in the city’s relationship with the Río de la Plata.

With the help of the ´ace team, Ilana’s work came to fruition by reflecting on all the memories that lie along the coast of the Río de la Plata, an area that functioned at the beginning of the 20th century as a seaside resort until it was closed in the 1960s due to water pollution. In the Ecological Reserve, all the stones are made up of debris from buildings demolished during the Urban Highway Plan of the 1970s. One can see the old apartment buildings in the stones, with brick patterns still visible, and for Ilana –who loved walking along the coast in the Ecological Reserve– it was hard not to wonder who lived there. The results of their micro-Residency was, for them, an act of participation in its ongoing evolution.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I’ve always seen history as a tool to understand the present and believe that art can serve as an invaluable medium to make the past visible. Before coming to ´ace, I lived in Buenos Aires for four months on a study abroad exchange where most of my classes were related to Argentine and Latin American history. One particular history I found myself interested in is the city’s relationship with the Río de la Plata. I loved walking along the coast in the Reserva Ecologica where all of the stones are made up of demolished buildings from the Plan de Autopistas Urbanas in the 1970s. You can see the old apartment buildings in the stones, with brick patterns shining through, and I often wondered who used to inhabit them. Earlier in the 20th century, the area served as a balneario, before closing in the 1960s due to water contamination. With help from the ´ace team, my piece is a reflection of all the memories that lie along the coast, as well as an act of participation in its continued evolution.