Jessica Lagunas, ROLLO Contemporary Art Para Verte Mejor (The Better to See You With), 2005, Single-channel digital video, 57 min.37 sec. Para Besarte Mejor (The Better to Kiss You With), 2003, Single-channel digital video, 57 min. 48 sec. Para Acariciarte Mejor (The Better to Caress You With), 2003, Single-channel digital video, 1 hr 49 min. 36 sec. Jessica Lagunas works in a range of media including video, installation, and collage. Her artworks are body based and use materials with feminine associations; using her own body in performance video works and elsewhere creating installations and objects using materials which reference the body; such as make up, human hair and perfume. Her works express concerns with the condition of women in contemporary society. Addressing issues such as the construction of feminine stereotypes and ideals, Lagunas questions society’s obsessions with body image, beauty, sexuality and ageing. Elsewhere in Lagunas practice, her works display an engagement with socio-political issues in her native Guatemala , exploring themes such as feminicide, repression, violence, and sexism. In the video performances by Jessica Lagunas presented at Endangered Species, the artist plays along with women’s beauty rituals, applying make up repeatedly and in an exaggerated manner, to reflect society’s obsession with body image and the pressures imposed on women to modify the body in order to fulfil a culturally constructed ‘ideal’ standard of beauty. These ‘everyday’ beauty rituals, so often repeated in everyday life that they have become normalised, are repeated by the artist to the point of excess, to challenge their apparent normality and question society’s obsession with body modification. In these video performances, Lagunas applies nail varnish for almost two hours until the bottle is empty, applies mascara continually until the product runs out, and applies lipstick for an hour. In doing so Lagunas transforms her body from its natural state into an increasingly abject mess, questioning the point at which perfection is achieved and ultimately rendering the quest to fulfil ‘the ideal’ image that the make up pertains to deliver as futile. Appropriating the aesthetic conventions of advertising and pop music videos in her video presentation, Lagunas can be seen to point to the mechanisms by which this ideal is mediated, parody the representation of the female body as presented in contemporary visual culture and undermine its authority by re-presenting it in terms of insecurity and obsession. The artist has said “Beauty routines of embellishment have been incorporated in our daily lives in such a way that we hardly notice nor question them anymore. In the name of beauty most women will put on makeup, do their hair and nails, depilate, diet, fix their noses and breasts. Although few women will reach society’s beauty ideals, many will sculpt their bodies as needed.” Jessica Lagunas was born in Nicaragua in 1971 and was raised in Guatemala where she studied Graphic Design at Universidad Rafael Landívar, Guatemala City . In 2001, she moved from Guatemala to New York City , U.S.A, where she currently lives and works. Lagunas works have been exhibited internationally; Para Besarte Mejor (The Better to Kiss You With), Para Acariciarte Mejor (The Better to Caress You With), and Para Verte Mejor (The Better to See You With) have been exhibited at prestigious institutions such as Jersey City Museum, Bronx Museum of the Arts, El Museo del Barrio, NY, the New Hall Art Collection, Cambridge, UK and in Biennale’s worldwide. The video triptych is included in the collections of Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, and the Walker Museum of Art, Liverpool . For further information: Jessica Lagunas is represented by ROLLO Contemporary Art, London . For sales and exhibition enquiries please contact Philippa Found, Gallery director, ROLLO Contemporary Art, 51 Cleveland Street , London W1T 4JH , T. +44 (0)20 7580 0020 E. philippa@rolloart.com www.rolloart.com

Regina José Galindo (b. 1974) was born in Guatemala City. Recorte por la linea (Cut through the line) 2005 is a videoed performance made in collaboration with one of the most prominent cosmetic plastic surgeons in Venezuela, Dr. Billi Spence who identifies sites for procedures to make the artist's body conform to a westernized ideal of perfection. She has had solo shows at Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporáneo in México City. National Museum of Contemporary Art, Bucharest, Exit Art in N.Y.; Museum of Modern Art, Oxford; Museum voor Moderne Kunst Arnhem, Arnhem. ArtPace, San Antonio Texas, USA. La Caja Blanca, Palma de Mallorca; Fondazione Volume, Rome; Prometeo Gallery di Ida Pisani in Lucca and Milan, Italy; Le Plateau and Galerie Du Jour in Paris, France; and Contexto Arte Contemporaneo in Guatemala City. She has also shown in numerous biennials (Sydney, Pontevedra, Havana, Valencia, Lima, Moscow, Canary Islands, Prague, Tirana and Venice in 2001, 2005 and 2009) and triennials (Auckland, Milan). She won the Golden Lion Award for young artists in the 51 Venice Biennal in 2005 and published a monograph of her work by VanillaEdizioni, Italy in 2006 in addition to a book of poetry Personal e Intransmisible, editorial Coloquia, Guatemala, 1999. http://www.reginajosegalindo.com A solo exhibition of Regina Jose Galindo’s work is currently on show at ROLLO Contemporary Art London until 11th February 2011 (ROLLO, 51 Cleveland Street , London W1T 4JH / for further details see www.rolloart.com)

Caroline Smith is an artist and educator whose work lies in the intersections of writing and performance. Her projects include participatory performance and interactive writing and are produced for outdoor spaces, theatres and galleries. Her themes explore complicity and exchange, looking at strategies that offer the potential to transgress something; to reveal what lies hidden, dormant and often unspoken. She collaborates with diverse audiences often as her alter ego, Mertle Merman who will present Endangered Species with a short, participatory piece titled Undoing. Participants would be invited to sit with Mertle and share a mirror (and more) while a photographic portrait is taken. Amidst the summit's social, dynamic atmosphere the artist invites absolute silence and an exchange around the gaze - around watching and being watched.

My work is a reflection of the culture I see around me and has become increasingly politicized as it has developed. For my last work I started to reflect about my life and how the fashion for thinness seems to affect the way I feel about my body. I believe media representations of thin airbrushed bodies have impact by instigating feelings of inadequacy and breeding body insecurity in those who view them. I am interested in the summit because I want to change a culture that perpetuates the aspiration to be thin and thin only. The summit would give me an opportunity to use this work to highlight these issues to a wider audience and hopefully change minds. I am challenging the toxic culture by creating contemporary art photography. The title of my work is 'Fashioning Aspirations'. It consists of a series of photographs that ask how media representations of extreme thinness might impact not only on women, young and old, but increasingly young men. Members of the general public are photographed as if they are in fashion advertisements. The photographs are then digitally manipulated to create body shapes that are so thin that in reality they would not actually exist and are consequently impossible to emulate as they are skeletal in proportion. Also, I believe there is a link between media imagery and eating disorders which is also highlighted in my work. Consequently, the photographs represent a demographic of people who suffer from the eating disorder anorexia nervosa. This work has been picked up by the local press and featured in the East Anglian Daily Times in July and recently Suffolk Magazine October 2010 in relation to health and eating disorders. The summit would give me an opportunity to use this work to highlight these issues to a wider audience and hopefully change minds. Lets change culture to make all body shapes acceptable and fashionable.

Melina Rodríguez Giles was born in Buenos Aires in 1974. She has given workshops at the School of Creative Photography (Escuela de Fotografía Creativa), attended Marcela Gásperi’s work clinic, taken Juan Travnik workshops on photographic esthetics and expression, worked at Fabiana Barreda’s work clinic, as well as at Pitonisa de Catalina León’s workshop. She has had individual exhibitions at the Boquitas Pintadas (Buenos Aires, 2005), at the Photo-gallery of the Social Sciences Faculty of UBA (University of Buenos Aires) and at the Centro Cultural General San Martín (Buenos Aires, 2002). She has also participated in numerous collective exhibits, such as at the Salón Nacional de Artes (2010); the Premio Francisco Ayerza and at the Fundación Andreani (2009); Premio Bienal de fotografía Arte x Arte (2008); Buenos Aires Photo VVV Gallery (2007); Premio Argentino de Artes Visuales - Fundación OSDE; Premio a las Artes Visuales - Fundación Federico J. Klemm (Buenos Aires, 2006); and Salón Nacional de Artes Visuales, Palais de Glace (Buenos Aires, 2006, 2004, 2003, 2002.). She has also won various awards which include the following: a mention at the Premio Argentino de Artes Visuales Fundación OSDE; 3° award at the Coca Cola Light Buenos Aires Photo Contest; Conjeturas Paradojales, en el Centro Cultural Borges, ArteBA (Buenos Aires, 2005); 2° award at the Salón Nacional, Pabellón IV (Buenos Aires, 2001), where she won third prize. A partir de 2008 y por cerca de dos años, Melina Rodríguez Giles fue realizando esta serie de retratos que hoy presenta en la FotoGalería. En las imágenes de este conjunto, cada una de las mujeres fotografiadas posa en la intimidad de los baños de sus casas. En los comienzos del trabajo Rodríguez Giles fue haciendo posar delante de su cámara a algunas amigas. Con ellas investigó el camino que le permitiría obtener el tipo de imágenes que deseaba: retratos rodeados de la íntima sensualidad y de la belleza natural que la mujer tiene en ese entorno, que normalmente siente como propio y seguro. Luego fue ampliando el espectro, incorporando a conocidas o recomendadas de quienes habían posado. La consigna fue siempre la misma y era muy sencilla: lograr un retrato franco y directo en un ambiente en el que, habitualmente, se encuentra una suerte de refugio ante la mirada del otro. El resultado fue esta serie cálida en la que las retratadas, despojadas de vestidos costosos o maquillajes muy elaborados, se pueden ver relajadas, en un entorno personal y cotidiano, pero generalmente poco fotografiado. Melina Rodríguez Giles nació en Buenos Aires en 1974. Realizó talleres en la Escuela de Fotografía Creativa, asistió a la clínica de obra de Marcela Gásperi, al Taller de estética y expresión fotográfica dictado por Juan Travnik, a la clínica de obra de Fabiana Barreda, y al taller Pitonisa de Catalina León. Ha expuesto en forma individual en Boquitas Pintadas (Buenos Aires, 2005), en la Fotogalería de la Facultad de Ciencias Sociales de la UBA, y en el Centro Cultural General San Martín (Buenos Aires, 2002). Participó en diferentes muestras colectivas, como el Salón Nacional de Artes Visuales (2010); el Premio Francisco Ayerza y el de la Fundación Andreani (2009); el Premio Bienal de fotografía Arte x Arte (2008); Buenos Aires Photo VVV Gallery (2007); Premio Argentino de Artes Visuales - Fundación OSDE; Premio a las Artes Visuales - Fundación Federico J. Klemm (Buenos Aires, 2006); Salón Nacional de Artes Visuales, Palais de Glace (Buenos Aires, 2006, 2004, 2003, 2002); Premio Argentino de Artes Visuales Fundación OSDE (donde obtuvo una mención), 3° premio Concurso Coca Cola Light Buenos Aires Photo (donde obtuvo el 3º premio), Conjeturas Paradojales, en el Centro Cultural Borges, ArteBA (Buenos Aires, 2005); 2° Salón Nacional, Pabellón lV (Buenos Aires, 2001), donde obtuvo el 3º premio.

Emilia Telese is an artist and writer based in Sussex. Born in Italy, she graduated from Fine Arts Academy in Florence in 1996. She has exhibited worldwide since 1994, including in the New Forest Pavilion at the Venice Biennale (2005), Ars Electronica (Austria), ZKM (Germany), Chashama (NYC), Centro Cultural Telemar (Rio De Janeiro), Manege (St Petersburg), Leeds City Gallery, ArtSway(New Forest) and the Freud Museum (London). Her practice includes interactive and body-responsive technology, film and live art, installation, literature and public art. Often site-specific., it deals with conscious engagement, political and social debate, non-verbal communication and the questioning and deconstruction of behaviour. Emilia founded the Edible Construction Company in 2006 with Chris Biddlecombe and Guyan Porter, an artist-led initiative creating socially engaged art in the public realm. She produces and presents Radio Sophia, a bilingual radio programme in Italian and English language on Brighton community radio Radio Reverb FM. Emilia Telese is an Artsway Associate. Emilia Telese has dealt with the image of women in the media throughout her work, exploring beauty stereotypes and the distorted image of self through work such as “Life of a Star” (presented at the 2005 Venice Biennale) and “Perfect Ten” (first presented at Leeds City Art Gallery) Her work can be seen on www.emiliatelese.com