LANDSCAPES OF CARE
Landscapes of Care is
a group exhibition that reunites the work of three Latin American artists based
on their shared exploration of interior landscapes and female identity. María
Ángeles Blanco, María Marta Fasoli, Sofía Quirno explore “blue” both as a color
and as a mood that invites a state of introspection. Their work is a multimedia
inquiry that reunites ceramics, watercolors, and oil painting to question landscapes as fixed exterior
spaces. Against all exteriority, their work dwells on interior, fluid, and
mobile perceptions of the environment. In a time of recurring environmental
challenges, this exhibition aims to open up a reflection on ecology that goes
back to its Greek origins as “oikos”, a term that originally referred to the
household. By linking back environmental concerns to domesticity, it aims to
stand as a reminder of the intricate connections of Latin American cultures to
nature, and how they defy Euro-Western understanding of nature and culture as
two separated realms. By focusing on female perceptions of ecology, Landscapes of Care comments on women’s relationship to the environment: an ancestral
traditions that goes from Prehispanic conception of the Pachamama as “mother
nature” to contemporary ecofeminist stances that see gender and natural
oppression as related phenomena.
This exhibition is driven by some core questions at the intersection of gender and environmental studies. Landscapes are generally recognized as natural spaces that have been intervened and modified by human labor. Departing from this definition, Landscapes of Care explores the particularities of female space making and labor: How does gender play a role in the making of landscapes? What is the relationship of domestic spaces with landscape making? What natural elements, cosmologies, and systems of belief are at play in women’s interactions with their surroundings? These are some of the questions that drive this group reflection on space, labor, and care where water stands as the underlying element. Against landscapes as fixed territories, one of the overarching features that reunites these artists’ work is fluidity. Change manifests sometimes as turbulence, others as peaceful backwaters. The liquid nature of moods evoques the ocean and its unpredictability, making these interior landscapes shift into waterscapes: spaces of oceanic depth where tranquility meets chaos. There is an immersive quality to Landscapes of Care: the exhibition creates a soft, mobile territory by bringing together all physical pieces with an ethereal rope that thread everything together.
This exhibition is driven by some core questions at the intersection of gender and environmental studies. Landscapes are generally recognized as natural spaces that have been intervened and modified by human labor. Departing from this definition, Landscapes of Care explores the particularities of female space making and labor: How does gender play a role in the making of landscapes? What is the relationship of domestic spaces with landscape making? What natural elements, cosmologies, and systems of belief are at play in women’s interactions with their surroundings? These are some of the questions that drive this group reflection on space, labor, and care where water stands as the underlying element. Against landscapes as fixed territories, one of the overarching features that reunites these artists’ work is fluidity. Change manifests sometimes as turbulence, others as peaceful backwaters. The liquid nature of moods evoques the ocean and its unpredictability, making these interior landscapes shift into waterscapes: spaces of oceanic depth where tranquility meets chaos. There is an immersive quality to Landscapes of Care: the exhibition creates a soft, mobile territory by bringing together all physical pieces with an ethereal rope that thread everything together.