CRISTINA MARIAN

THE WINDS ARE CHANGING

05.12.22 - 06.25.22

Cristina Marian’s The Winds are Changing solo exhibition at ECHO arts is the first solo show of work since graduating with her MFA at the beginning of the pandemic in the spring of 2020.

The people we are now, two years later, are far from the people we were then. There are so many things to consider for the future of our species and our planet, but most of us are overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of issues and certainly, the unwieldy, exponential growth of tech that informs it all. An effect from these tumultuous years is a personal retreat into ones community. A feeling that the most attributable change that can be made is in your backyard, with who you are and what you bring to the table.

In this new work, Marian leans into the rapid changes experienced by her community that weave through intimate personal experiences of the past two years. There are the skeletons of new buildings fading into turbulent mark making and textures that inhabit the negative space- though never receding, always fighting to come to the foreground and be heard. There are fragments of Marian’s intimate histories, hazily coming to the surface but always with a tether to an architectural framework outside of self. This series showcases her fluidity of belonging. Marian says, “Since moving to Bozeman in January of 2014, I have gradually developed a sense of place, belonging and purpose….[but] I flow in-between communities, local, global, intra-personal.”

Marian has always been interested in community engagement. During the past two years, she taught art at Headwaters Academy, created a public mural installation in Bozeman and Missoula, constructed “Tudor” a fantastical friend for Random Acts of Silliness and made a beautiful site-specific performance piece that included a living framework of “home” that brought the community together for affordable housing initiatives. It is fitting then, that this exhibition includes a community component that welcomes contributing efforts. “Living in Bozeman has become impossible for me at this point,” Marian says, “but I hope to work alongside people I know and share visual ideas, collaborate and learn from one another before I go”.