Delilah Montoya Albuquerque, New Mexico El Sagrado Corazon/Sacred Heart

The barrio is etched and is always evolving in Delilah Montoya's mind. The commotion, vigor, noise, pride, graffiti, pollution, segregation - sways Montoya's vision as she recreates it into art. This process that blends photographic documentary and manipulation techniques results in prints that become layers of reality. Composed as collotypes, black and white images float in new layers of color. This nineteenth century photoprintmaking process is used by Montoya to activate the content of El Sagrado Corazon/Sacred Heart series. The Sacred Heart is a spiritual icon that is embedded into Montoya's religious fabric. The Baroque religious symbol expresses shared cultural religious patterns that connote a syncretic relationship between European Catholicism and Aztec Philosophy. Montoya's approach to the Sacred Heart is to involve the community in a contemporary manifestation of the cultural icon.