Santina Amato is a video installation artist combing performance, video, sculpture and site-specific contexts to explore femininity and the female identity during the transitional age of adolescence.
Amato’s voyeuristic approach investigates the relationships woman have with each other, family members, members of the opposite sex and especially with themselves. Her work embodies the childhood world of fairytale and fantasy, adopting a deceptively childlike charm, logic and aesthetic, to transport the viewer into a feminine surrealist wonderland; a fairytale-esque environment where reality is questioned and fantasy becomes the norm.
By deconstructing linear ideas of time and space, Amato attempts to subvert conventional notions of video, resulting in a sculptural redefinition of the moving image.
Amato is based in Melbourne, Australia, dividing her time with the United States of America. She is the recipient of various travel grants, has been a finalist in many contemporary art awards within Australia and is a graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts.
"Santina Amato’s, work draws the viewer into the drama that can be produced with video and the employment of the space." Ace Wagstaff, Artist/Writer
"I have experienced art in miniature dimensions, yet there is something almost otherworldly about the inside of a tea cup dancing in front of your eyes. In the tradition of Pipilotti Rist, the ethereal quality of the video lies in its iridescent colour and as the green pulsates, carrying the small spinning figure out of the cup and into my imagination, I am no longer in reality, but in some sort of Alice in Wonderland fantasy (the title reinforcing this even more). The scratched and weathered antique cupboard housing this mysterious ‘drink’ makes me aware of my own presence, as if I have uncovered it accidentally on purpose. " Marion Piper, Curator/Writer
" I am always enchanted as well as surprised by each new artwork [Santina] creates... " Pip Heale, Collector (My Family Dinner)
"Dark and yet surreptitiously feminist, Santina Amato presents a haunting investigation of female/male sexuality, as well as undermining the fine line between intimacy and intrusion." Jared Davis, Writer/Curator
