The theory of stability of dynamic systems was proposed in 1892 by the Russian mathematician Aleksander Lyapunov, and covers three states of equilibrium: stable, unstable and asymptotically stable. Any of these three possibilities suggest that the origin, the point at which the body stands independently of external supports, is in fact a solution for equilibrium. In other words, the body always achieves balance by locating its own centre.

Mexico City-based Omar Gámez’s series Stability: Notes on gravity (2009) uses this premise in a metaphorical way to confront physical, emotional and mental states within figures once they have been stripped and destabilized. More than just photographs, theses images are sculptural proposals that also reference canonical treatments of physical beauty throughout the history of art. They are also notes on the possibility and impossibility for people to seize and sustain their permanence on earth. Selections from the series Stability were recently on view at Toronto’s Julie M. Gallery in the exhibition Off Balance.

Omar Gámez is a Mexican interdisciplinary artist who holds a bachelor in communications and a Masters in Visual Arts from the San Carlos Academy of Art, UANM. His work has been included in the 6^th Bourges Biennale, the 7^th Berlin Biennale, the 3^rd Biennale of Visual Arts of Yucatan, the 7^th Biennale of Monterrey, the Museum of Modern Art of Bogota and the Huston Centre for Photography, among others. His work as a video artist has also been featured at Paris Nuit Blanche, Madrid’s LGBT Film festival, and InsideOut, Toronto’s LGBT Film Festival (2006). Since 2000, Gámez has also taught photography at several educational institutions in Mexico.