{"id":3079,"date":"2026-08-22T22:02:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T22:02:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/estefania-ajcip-maps-distance-and-devotion-in-folded-memories\/"},"modified":"2026-08-22T22:02:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T22:02:10","slug":"estefania-ajcip-maps-distance-and-devotion-in-folded-memories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/estefania-ajcip-maps-distance-and-devotion-in-folded-memories\/","title":{"rendered":"Estefania Ajcip Maps Distance and Devotion in Folded Memories"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Los Angeles-based artist <strong>Estefania Ajcip<\/strong> turns personal history into vivid relief in <em>Folded Memories<\/em>, a new body of sculptural paintings probing what happens to a family when it\u2019s split between places. Having spent much of her childhood in Guatemala while her father worked in L.A., Ajcip channels that absence into layered tableaux built from birch plywood, papier mache, small LED lights, and acrylic. She often begins with family photographs, lifting scenes and household objects into a fantastical register where grief, desire, and dream logic share the same frame.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align:left\">Scenes of separation, built in relief<\/h2>\n<p>Fissures and breaks literally structure the works, revealing and concealing details as the viewer shifts position. In <em>\u201cTelephone game\u201d<\/em> (2026), the artist appears with a paper phone and string to her ear, while her father stands at a public payphone that protrudes from the two-dimensional surface\u2014an everyday device stretched into a bridge across distance. The piece is rendered in birch plywood sheet, foam board, thread, matte gel, and acrylic on panel (36 x 24 x 8 inches).<\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere, <em>\u201cMomo 2012\u201d<\/em> (2026) captures two adults grasping hands, but an opening in the wood discloses a forlorn girl with her paper train set, a private scene nested inside a public embrace. The work combines birch plywood sheet, plywood, lights, and acrylic on panel (24 x 12 x 2 inches). Perspective shifts intensify in <em>\u201cFour paths\/Two paths?\u201d<\/em> (2026), where a sculptural bus shuttles between L.A. and Guatemala. At the vehicle\u2019s front window, the latter\u2019s national bird flutters forward as a sign of togetherness and hope. Fabricated from birch plywood sheet, foam board, acrylic sheets, paper mache, lights, and acrylic on panel (25 x 38.5 x 13 inches), the work, a statement notes, most directly confronts \u201cthe familial unity that Ajcip so longed for throughout her childhood. Across the exhibition, Ajcip makes clear again and again how the longing that defined her youth now fuels her art, a powerful reminder that strength often grows in adversity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Additional pieces extend this language of rupture and repair: <em>\u201cDo I pray for what is lost?\u201d<\/em> (2026), in birch plywood sheet, foam board, light, and acrylic on panel (18 x 22.5 x 4.5 inches); <em>\u201cTo the last use\u201d<\/em> (2026), in birch plywood, foam, paper mache, and acrylic on birch plywood (36 x 27 x 7.5 inches); <em>\u201cBack to One\u201d<\/em> (2026), in birch plywood sheet, foam board, matte gel, and acrylic on panel (30 x 43 x 10 inches); <em>\u201ckeys to success\u201d<\/em> (2026), and <em>\u201cOn a corner (finger)\u201d<\/em> (2026), each layering modest materials into quietly theatrical relief.<\/p>\n<p><em>Folded Memories<\/em> is on view through August 22 at <strong>Charlie James Gallery<\/strong> in Los Angeles, where Ajcip\u2019s carefully lit, hand-built worlds trace the contours of distance\u2014and the stubborn hope that travels across it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:right\"><em>V\u00eda <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisiscolossal.com\/2026\/08\/estefania-ajcip-sculpture-paintings-folded-memories\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">thisiscolossal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In Folded Memories at Charlie James Gallery in Los Angeles, Estefania Ajcip builds sculptural paintings from birch plywood, paper mache, small LED lights, and acrylic to trace the fractures and longing of a family split between Guatemala and L.A. The exhibition is on view through August 22.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3078,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-happening-now"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}