Untitled from the series “Latvia” Latvia, 2012

Untitled from the series “Latvia” Latvia, 2012

Untitled from the series “Latvia”

Latvia, 2012

Untitled from the series “Beauty Pageants” Niagara Falls, 2011

Untitled from the series “Beauty Pageants” Niagara Falls, 2011

Untitled from the series “Beauty Pageants” Niagara Falls, 2011

Untitled from the series “Kinder” on orthodox children Toronto, 2010

Untitled from the series “Kinder” on orthodox children Toronto, 2010

Untitled from the series “Rio de Janeiro”

Rio de Janeiro, 2010

Untitled from the series “Rio de Janeiro” Rio de Janeiro, 2010

Untitled from the series “The Equestrians” Buenos Aires, 2009

Installation view of series “The Equestrians” and “Murgas”

Buenos Aires, 2009

Untitled from the series “Murga”

Buenos Aires, 2009

Untitled from the series “Czech Dancers” Buenos Aires, 2009

Untitled from the series “Russian Ballerinas” Toronto, 2008

Untitled from the series “Ballroom Dancers”

Montréal, 2008

Untitled from the series “Beauty Pageant” Niagara Falls, 2006

Untitled from the series “Beauty Pageant”

Niagara Falls, 2007

Portraits

For the past few years, my photographic work has focused on documenting the lives of children in different social-political environments. I began with a large body of ongoing work of portraits exploring North American children’s’ competitions such as beauty pageants and ballroom dancing.

My latest work consists of several series of portraits of young girls in Latin

America. Moving back to Argentina from Canada has been a very natural transition for my work, since my own personal and visual references of childhood are mainly based on memories of Buenos Aires. Firstly, I began to photograph young girls in Murgas, a carnival group formed in city slums since the 19th century as a form of popular resistance and political protest through parody. The costumes continue the tradition of mocking and referencing bourgeoisie garments of that time, which in fact were old clothing originally given to the Murga dancers by the aristocratic families they served. This research became a starting point into investigating different communities in Argentina, including those which immigrated from Europe and have powerfully influenced the country’s national identity and social and economic imbalance. The series “The Equestrians,” deals with contemporary depictions of young girls in an elite German Equestrian Club. Aesthetically, these photographs reference the depiction of celebrated children in royal families in art history, particularity the baroque period.

Through a residency, I had the opportunity to photograph in Rio de Janeiro, in

gardens and favelas (slums). These photographs explore issues of childhood dreams and expectations pertaining to the subject’s social realities. I am particularly interested in the transitional stages of self-awareness into adolescence and capturing this tenderness, tension, and sense of loss.

The series “Kinder,” explores the Toronto Hasidic Jewish neighbourhood where

my grandparents lived when they immigrated during the Second World War and where I grew up when I moved to Canada. My recent portraits of orthodox children in their homes and bedrooms explore a rarely seen perspective of this tightly knit community. Similarly, I am also documenting over the summers the life of children at a Progressive Socialist Jewish Summer Camp in Canada, where I used to go as a teenager.

Biography

Jasmine Bakalarz was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1985 and at the age of twelve moved to Toronto. She completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at Concordia University in Montreal, with a major in photography and a minor in psychology. She has studied with Marry Ellen Mark, Alessandra Sanguinetti with Magnum Photography, with Marcos Lopez and recently finished a photography residency in Latvia with Hellen Van Meene. She has travelled to Canadian Native Reserves, Israel/West Bank and all over Latin America to photograph. She is represented by Bisagra Gallery in Buenos Aires and her work is available at Galerie Lilian Rodriguez in Montréal and Wondereur. She has exhibited in various art institutions including The McCord Museum- Montreal, Gallery 44-Toronto, Centro Cultural Recoleta- Buenos Aires, Museo Emilio Caraffa- Córdoba, and events such as Then New York Photo Festival, Toronto Contact Festival, Festival de la Luz Buenos Aires and ArteBA International Art Fair. Jasmine is the recipient of several awards including the Magenta Foundation Flash Forward Award 2011 and 2012, Banco Ciudad Photography Prize and an Ontario Arts Council Emerging Artist Grant as well as a grant from the Fondo Nacional de las Artes (Council for the Arts Argentina). Jasmine lives between Toronto and Buenos Aires, work is part of private and public collections. In Buenos Aires, she currently works at the Centro Cultural de la Memoria Haroldo Conti, which belongs to the Ministry of Human Rights of Argentina. It is situated in the infamous ESMA (Escuela Mecánica de la Armada) formerly known as the main concentration/clandestine detention centre throughout the last Argentinean dictatorship, it now serves as a cultural and art space for memory and education. Jasmine Bakalarz works in the photography department with archives, exhibitions and photography workshops in city slums and women's prisons.