ARTIST STATEMENT
The connection to joy can be dark and twisted, a sentiment captured in Fragments of Infernal Schadenfreude, a project exploring pleasure born from the suffering of others. Drawing from demonic illustrations in the 1792 grimoire, Compendium Rarissimum, the work questions how joy can emerge from harm and whether such emotions are inherently immoral or an intricate part of our psychological makeup.
The project utilizes Selenite, a crystal associated with purity, and mounts these emulsion-transferred fragments onto Black Obsidian scrying mirrors. This material choice creates a layered dialogue. While the Selenite suggests a cleansing of negative energy, the Obsidian acts as a conduit for truth, revealing hidden fears, flaws, and suppressed negativity. A perverse celebration of harm, schadenfreude often stems from superiority, revenge, or personal justification.
In a modern landscape where division fuels these primal impulses, these photo-sculptures explore how intrusive feelings are revealed and processed. Fragments of Infernal Schadenfreude invites viewers to engage with the discomfort of these emotions and reconsider how we judge them, both in ourselves and in the collective.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Katalina Barrera is a New York-based artist and educator. She earned her BFA in Photography from Pratt Institute in 2020 and is currently completing her Master’s in Education at Touro University. Katalina has exhibited her work nationally and internationally, with notable showings at Pratt Institute, the Penumbra Foundation, and the Kolaj Institute. She has held artist residencies at Arts, Letters, and Numbers and the Kolaj Institute, and received an Honorable Mention in the Alternative Process category of the 24th Julia Margaret Cameron Photography Awards.
In addition to her studio practice, Katalina hosts workshops on the photographic emulsion lift, a process she innovated for use on various crystals. Her work explores themes of death, spirituality, and the suppression of feeling within the collective unconscious. Influenced by her background in archival work, she utilizes alternative processes to express the ephemeral nature of existence. She is currently developing Fragments of Infernal Schadenfreude, a new series of photo-sculptures.
© Katalina Barrera