Laura, Almost 12 (exhibition, 2011)
![<p>Laura, Almost 12 (2012), various dimensions, dissolved photographs </p>](https://api.maggiecardelus.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/2011_20.jpg)
![<p>A mother’s birth_2011, 84x124x3 cm, cut-out photograph, plexiglass, house-paint </p>](https://api.maggiecardelus.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/2011_22.jpg)
![](https://api.maggiecardelus.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/aaweb-mb.jpg)
![<p>Installation view showing two ceramic pieces_2011 (Laura flowering and Laura’s mother) </p>](https://api.maggiecardelus.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/2011_24.jpg)
![<p>Zoo on Laura_2011, wall drawing done with green paint by Zoo of his sister Laura in Laura, almost 12 </p>](https://api.maggiecardelus.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Zoo-on-Laura.jpg)
![<p>Laura in the flow_2011, 132.5×92.5 cm, layered cut-out photographs, wood </p>](https://api.maggiecardelus.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/2011_21.jpg)
![](https://api.maggiecardelus.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/aawb-laura.jpg)
![<p>Laura’s brother at the other end of the rainbow_2011, 104.5x95x5 cm, image is cut, taped with colored tape and rephotographed seven times, wood, glass </p>](https://api.maggiecardelus.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/2011_30.jpg)
![<p>Laura’s great great grandmother_2011, 119×92.5 cm, incised plastic with printed image, sourdough, glass, wood </p>](https://api.maggiecardelus.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/2011_26.jpg)
![](https://api.maggiecardelus.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/IMG_1344.jpg)
![<p>Laura looking in her mirror_2011, 66×53 cm, layered photographs, wood, glass, paint </p>](https://api.maggiecardelus.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/2011_25.jpg)
![<p>Laura’s moon_2011, diameter 40 cm, enamel on mirror </p>](https://api.maggiecardelus.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/2011_27.jpg)
![<p>Placenta_2011, 40x55x25 cm, white clay ceramic </p>](https://api.maggiecardelus.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/2011_28.jpg)
![<p> Wall installation in Laura, almost 12_2011 </p>](https://api.maggiecardelus.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/2011_23.jpg)
Details
Maggie Cardelús' effort to communicate, celebrate, and elaborate significant developmental or experiential moments of family life continues with the Laura, Almost 12 exhibition. Cardelús creates a visceral set of works that evoke a human female life cycle from birth (A Mother's birth), through to menstruation (Laura, Almost 12 and Laura in the Flow) to death (Laura's Great Great Grandmother).
The photographic medium is, once again, put to the test in this exhibition with pieces made with dissolved photo emulsion, moulding sourdough combined with photo prints, photos rephotographed over and over again, and photographs cut and layered or sliced into fine strips. The artist also includes ritualistic ceramic pieces to evoke the physicality of body, using clay coil technique to create spiralling umbilical cord vessels and bulging placenta.
Cardelús also asked her son, Zoo, to draw a mural portrait of his sister, Laura. He took his cues from the ceramic vessels, which he transformed into a flowing, vertiginous cacoon that Laura generates herself from her mouth, like an insect.
![Cut out design 3 for Laura in the Flow](https://api.maggiecardelus.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Screen-Shot-2021-12-02-at-09.22.35-e1638442352851-672x1024.png)
![Cut out drawing 2 for Laura in the Flow](https://api.maggiecardelus.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Screen-Shot-2021-12-02-at-09.22.58-e1638442207931-676x1024.png)
![Cut out design 2 for Laura in the Flow](https://api.maggiecardelus.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Screen-Shot-2021-12-02-at-09.22.47-e1638442242910-670x1024.png)