Reflexive and contemporary look at nature and animals in the exhibition “Coexistences”

Searching through her things Teresa Carvallo found a card that revealed the meaning, hitherto unknown, of her last name: roble. It was also a surprise, an omen. It was the year of the pandemic and she immediately identified with that tall and resistant tree. She began by painting pictures where the shadows of the leafy oaks were the pretext for various situations, but after traveling to Oregon her vision changed. “I met a biologist who said that mother trees cannot be killed because they take care of us and protect us from fire when it is hot. That’s when I began to realize the importance of trees, because they not only create oxygen, but also connect and feed each other.”. Amazed by that unknown world that opened up before her eyes, the self-taught artist began to capture “Conexión arbórea” in ceramics, one of the two series -the other is “Companion Animals”- that make up her fifteenth individual called “ Coexistences”. The exhibition made up of 20 works can be seen until April 29 at the Forum gallery.

widen the gaze

The pieces created over the last three years have given a twist to the theme that Carvallo has worked on since the late 1990s, when she began her career in the “boring” art of life as a housewife. “I looked for an activity that was for me, personal, that has nothing to do with doing things for my family. Then I found a friend who made ceramics, she invited me to her workshop and I quickly began to portray in small sculptures the stories that women told each other ”. The struggle of women and their empowerment in an unequal world, her flag until recently, has evolved to put the spotlight on one of the great problems facing the world. “I think that today we must broaden our gaze and be less sectarian. We must also think about other living beings, about what can happen to us, because it is no longer a fight against man or imposed destiny, but rather one that should prepare us for the disasters that are coming if we do not act now.”expresses firmly.

A woman next to a man in the bathroom is one of the sarcastic images of “Companion Animals”, the second series that the show exhibits. In this regard, Carvallo points out that sometimes we forget that human beings are also animals, “although many are still aggressive. They kill, hit and are sexist ”, he assures in a clear allusion to the male gender. “That is why -he continues- I see them as animals, the irony goes in that sense. Sometimes I think that men are animals that do not evolve.

Because provocation is a hallmark of her creations, she has been called transgressive on more than one occasion. However, being so is for her part of her nature. “I say what I think. I have never been a woman who follows the rules of conduct, I am a liberal person. For conservatives, I am a transgressor because I dare to speak freely about sex and the behavior of women in my works.”

He also assures that this freedom to express himself is the most important thing in his art. He confirms this in a general way with the painting of a female whose hair is full of snakes, in reference to Medusa, the outraged woman who was turned into a monster as punishment. Or, more intimately, with that swing that hangs from a tree, an emotional tribute to a friend who is gone forever.