Daniela Ortiz

General Joan Prim i Prats

Previously, Ortiz produced a series of photographs related to her research on the position of ‘service architecture’, the vital space given to domestic servants in the modernist architectural houses of South American upper class families. Following the same formal principle, she has developed a new series called Estat nacio. This work presents a critical point of view on the construction of a national sovereignty through speeches and laws concerning people who are not considered as citizens according to immigration legislation and the regulations affecting immigrants’ rights and freedom. The project presents an analysis of historical figures related to colonialism, still visible in the public spaces of Barcelona, mainly through monumental statues of military figures, politicians or industrial figures. The series is accompanied by images of institutions that financed and collaborated in colonialism such as the Bank of Barcelona or the Overseas Hispanic Society. A text contextualizes each image and serves as a historical reference for each figure or institution. This is a critical answer to speeches referring to the idea of a Nation-State characterized by a territory, a precise population with a common language and culture.