Artistic Statement

My name is Catalina Cofone Polack and I am an Argentinean Actress. I was born in New York and moved to Buenos Aires when I was 4 years old. I had an Italian background education due to my Italian bicultural and bilingual elementary and high-school. Between 12 and 14 years old I also lived in Barcelona, Spain, where I had the big opportunity to meet new people and learn about how life was in a place so far from Buenos Aires. Changing from one city to another made me more versatile as well as encouraged my curiosity. 
Since I was a child, a wide variety of artistic trainings have been part of my life. I could not dedicate my time to anything else that's not art and theatre. It's not only a choice, but also a necessity and a state of mind that colors any step that I make. I grew up in an artistic and intellectual environment. My father is a Visual Artist and a Graphic Designer and my mother is an Anthropologist with an Art Philosophy PhD. I am convinced I have a knowledge that is strongly associated with what I saw, heard and went through. I do believe the Agnostic Spaniard and Italian origin of my father, and the Jewish origin of my mother are crucial aspects of my identity. I feel represented in many ways by them and our life story. From my point of view, acting is a path, and sometimes inadvertently, what happens to us in life shapes art activity. 
In my short but not less intense artistic life, I've always been surrounded and nurtured by groups of artists, such as actors, directors, producers, dramatic writers, that gave me the autonomy and artistic incentive to make my way. Initially, I ran into art as a beginner and I was merely interested in acting. Later on, while I was studying at school, acting was a space crossed by catarsis and relief. In my university years, I began to work as an actress and could face new aspects of my vocation. Dealing with unknown people and circumstances that enriched my perspectives towards art spirited up my freedom. Nowadays, I would like to take a new challenging step. 
Interdisciplinary educational background, cultural diversity and life story are three pillars of my identity, which is at once strong as well as constantly changing. As I said above, acting with actors and being part of an artistic production that wanted to make revealing and engaging art incentivized me to acknowledge what I wanted to pursue in life. For 6 years, the prestigious and well known Actor and Director Julio Chavez was a real mentor who taught me the sense of responsibility and provided me with a ´´toolbox´´. Furthermore, my Literature Laurea revealed to me the value of being disciplined, committed and passionate. I was pleased to cross my orientation in Foreign Literature (Italian, English and Spanish) with feminist theory and feminist contemporary Argentinian authors. Classical as well as innovative and contemporary theatre went along with playing roles. I wonder if my academic recognition made me capable of distinguishing strengths and weaknesses in theory and practical theatre.
I always try to recreate the artist’s process in empathetic ways. I truly believe that art language generates a space to share and transcend not only national, etnic and religious boundaries but also intimacy. Through expression and exploration we collectively process our inner states. Deep introspection lets me create connections and open up dialogues with the characters that begin but not finish in themselves. Exploring the world through materials and ideas is the human quest for theoretical knowledge, and we are all a part of it. I consider it is always important to perceive our work, receive the frequencies around, process our instincts, and listen to the world itself. As a result, I find profound experience in the unexpected moments of focus while making.