Estefania Ajcip Explores Family Separation in Folded Memories Exhibition
- Los Angeles artist Estefania Ajcip explores the emotional weight of family separation through sculptural paintings in her exhibition "Folded Memories," on view at Charlie James Gallery through August...
- According to gallery platform reporting, Ajcip begins her creative process by building small cardboard models to work out the architectural underpinnings of each piece.
- The exhibition maps out the physical and emotional landscapes of a childhood split across borders.
Los Angeles artist Estefania Ajcip explores the emotional weight of family separation through sculptural paintings in her exhibition “Folded Memories,” on view at Charlie James Gallery through August 22, according to reporting by This Is Colossal. The collection draws directly on the artist’s childhood experience of growing up in Guatemala while her father worked in Los Angeles, blending childhood grief, memory, and surreal dreams into three-dimensional wall-based works.
Sculptural Techniques and Dreamlike Perspectives
According to gallery platform reporting, Ajcip begins her creative process by building small cardboard models to work out the architectural underpinnings of each piece. These models are then scaled up into surfaces constructed from carved foam, slim birch plywood, papier-mâché, and acrylic on panel. Many of the works incorporate small LED lights and thread, creating surreal compositions where perspective shifts depending on the viewer’s vantage point. In the piece titled “Momo 2012,” created in 2026 and measuring 24 by 12 by 2 inches, an acrylic-on-panel composition depicts two adults clasping hands while a wooden opening reveals a solitary girl and her paper train set. Another large-scale centerpiece, “Back to One,” features a patterned sofa that transitions from two dimensions into a physical three-dimensional object extending past the right edge of the frame. According to gallery sources, the piece recreates the East LA family home of Ajcip’s youth, complete with the silhouette of her father filling a doorway and an adult self-portrait of the artist curled on her side.
Tracing the Immigrant Experience and Family Reunification
The exhibition maps out the physical and emotional landscapes of a childhood split across borders. According to exhibition coverage, Ajcip’s father appears repeatedly throughout the collection as a lingering presence mirroring his physical absence during her formative years. In “To the Last Use,” his figure is reflected in the mirror of a wardrobe purchased with money he sent home. In “I’ll Wait For You” and “Telephone game,” an imagined public payphone protrudes from the canvas where the artist stands with a paper phone, depicting childhood longings for connection across distance. The long journey of immigration takes physical form in “Four paths/Two paths?”, which features a periwinkle city bus traveling between Los Angeles and Guatemala. A quetzal—Guatemala’s national bird and a symbol of unity and hope—flutters at the vehicle’s front window, leading portraits of both the artist and her father. According to the gallery statement, this piece directly confronts the familial unity Ajcip longed for throughout her youth, demonstrating how the longing of her past now fuels her art.
