Ariana Martin

I believe in small moments of intimacy being crucial to how individuals navigate their surroundings and cope with existence; there is power in the collection of these moments. Curatorially, I’m interested in understanding how to create these intimate conditions; be it through being able to touch a work of art in public space, have a conversation over a meal, or listen to what our surroundings are telling us. I have a desire to build stories and create worlds, real or fictional. I want to construct spaces for people to explore, I want to write texts for others to read and relate to, I want to metaphorically and physically feed the hunger that exists in others' curiosities.

I’ve recently been more and more convinced that a curator is more akin to a journalist; a ‘participant observer’. Someone who claims to be telling a story but is actively creating one at the same time, just from their own perspective. Our duties and abilities go beyond putting this next to that. A curator researches, writes, mediates, schedules, and predicts. It’s about understanding why the connections that are being made are important or relevant. As a curator, growth is encouraged and as a human it is inevitable. Our environments don’t stop, and neither can we. But we can pause for moments of intimacy to help us make sense of it all.

After receiving a Bachelors of Architecture (BArch) from California Polytechnic State University in 2015, I lived in New York City, working for six years at an interior architecture firm. I am currently working on a collection of artist interviews that center around a one-off collaborative experience.

Image by John Dougan Nealon