3 Questions with Dena Yago
Throughout Made in L.A. 2016: a, the, though, only, we'll feature Q&As with several of the artists in the exhibition.
In advance of her panel with Sean Monahan and Rachel Berks on August 25, we spoke to Made in L.A. artist Dena Yago about her practice and her relationship to L.A.
Hammer Museum: You recently moved to Los Angeles from New York. What drew you here, and how has the city changed the way you think about your work?
Dena Yago: There’s an overwhelming positivity in the city that provides a lot to react against. I feel more free to be critical and make more declarative work in a place where that isn’t the general consensus. Kind of in the same way that someone like Marilyn Manson spawned from Ft. Lauderdale.
There are many aspects to your practice—you are a writer, artist, and founding member of the trend forecasting group K-HOLE. How do these different roles intersect with and inform one another?
Through language.
Can you describe how your use of photography is related to the importance of language in your practice?
I’m interested in the ways in which language and photography inflect one another. I’m working against metaphor and illustration, stressing that the relationship between text and image is one of non-equivalence.
