Groundwork
Identity Issues
As an artist, I have documented identity issues for over 20 years. I believe identity is a matrix of life experiences, choices and lifestyles, and its structure is comprised of family, gender, ethnicity, friendships, morals, spiritual beliefs, and interests.
Developing a sense of self-nature or identity is an essential part of our path through life. A person must be self-aware and use their very own knowledge to have a fully formed identity. We are responsible for every action we take and every decision we make. Each individual needs to manage their emotions to feel good about their contributions to the world.
Therefore, I have been working with these issues to develop reflections around identity or a sense of self-nature to favor communities whose identity values are compromised.
Multiple Personalities
Nina Dotti’s Case (2005 - 2019)
I develop multiple personalities for the emotional abuse caused by the political persecution on behalf of the Venezuelan government ever since 2002 .
The first thing I did was to change my name from Andreina Fuentes Angarita to Nina Dotti. I took the last letters of the last name of the documentary photographer Tina Modotti (1896-1942), and thus my alter ego Nina Dotti was born.
With the help of my alter ego, Nina Dotti, I was able to develop my fully potential bringing multiple identities called “alters.” Such alters often have diverse personalities, mannerisms, and so on. Each one of my performances were expressions of my multiple personalities to became invisible to Venezuela’s government during 17 years. When I became an American citizen and I don’t need to hide anymore I decided to integrate all my alters into one cohesive self: Andreina Fuentes Angarita.
Superwoman (2007- 2012)
Working under Nina Dotti’s name, I recreated the fictional character Superwoman (2007-2015) in mediums such as performances, installations, photography and comics. Being a woman represents great pressure in the 21st century. We are expected to be good mothers, daughters, professionals, and perfect wives. I learned that we could have it all, but not at the same time. In my case, I also had to deal with the emigration process of moving to the United States of America with my family, specifically to Miami, in 2003.
Maria Maletas, 2013
Carrying suitcases from one place to another became my life habit. My grandfather used to call me, María Maletas. María, the woman with all the suitcases on her.
Happy Frida, 2014
All the suffering I experienced as a result of my many attempts to become a mother made me realize how deeply I could relate to Frida Kahlo. The difference was that I was actually happy.
Madame Crook, 2014
Searching for my family’s Sephardi origin led me to write a book titled El Último Vientre Judío , the story about my great-grandmother, Rosa Macías, also known as Doña Delincuente or Madame Crook in all Bucaramanga, Colombia. At some point, I almost believed I was actually her reincarnation.
Miss Wynwood (2014-2019)
As political is personal, I, a USA legal alien, a lawful American resident, and a future American Citizen, decided to become the first mayor of Wynwood and run for President against Donald Trump Miss Wynwood (2014-2019) was born as the sole candidate of her own party (FAFA) and she delivered her own political manifesto.
Gender Identity
Portrait of Rummie Quintero, 2004
A trans person is that who perceives that the sexual organs assigned at birth do not match their gender identity, or the social gender they feel inside their bodies. I met Rummie in 2002, while I was working on the project, Álbum de Boda. Through my Creative Mindset Practice, I was able to help her incorporate her non-profit organization Divas de Venezuela, and her business Rummie Quintero Arte Coreográfico. Basically, her business is engaged in teaching choreography to teenagers in her studio, which is located in her mother’s apartment, in one of the poorest slums of Caracas, known as 23 de Enero. She believes education is the key to prevent premature pregnancies and drug addiction.
I started to support the trans community in Venezuela and, together with curator Gerardo Zavarce, we organized the exhibition Tránsito in the Nelson Garrido’s Organization in Caracas in the year 2005. I continued applying my methodology with the trans community by curating the exhibit Tránsito and presenting my photo series, portrait of Rummie Quintero.
We published a newspaper called Transnews, and Rummie was sponsored by Fundación Artistas Emergentes (FAE) together with non-profit organization Divas de Venezuela, through their permanent educational programs. A group of trans was organized to participate in the government identification plan to issue identity cards to trans women, which feminine image was legally portrayed on their IDs, even though they still needed to keep their names given at birth.
Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)
