Mobility is one of the hallmarks of contemporary life. Some people travel considerable distances, daily, to work; many, whenever possible, leave wherever they are in search of new sensory stimuli, new airs, a new landscapes.
Between these comings and goings, the environment denounces displacement and attests to what extent human occupation – so common that we are rarely surprised – is present in space.
Long before our intervention on the planet, however, species of plants and animals also maintained constant movement due to climate change, natural disturbances and development processes. Our existence was, and still is, in accordance with the possibilities that nature offers.
Individuals and nature are, simultaneously, witnesses and agents of the countless transformations that affect us all the time. Such transformations have significant impacts on the landscape, object of research of both Claudia and Mariannita.
Seen from a distance, transformed into a dream of holiday consumption or a weekend getaway, the landscape becomes a daily sight through the presence of gardens, here considered as manifestations of our desire to be in a place we know we belong to, but which we cannot stop modifying.
The encounter between Claudia and Mariannita, between photographs and paintings, between languages and techniques, brings up different and complementary perspectives on these and other adjacent issues.
About Claudia Jaguaribe
The works presented are part of a research that explores nature and culture in the context of the garden. Historically, gardens are physical manifestations of culture, the meeting of values of a given society, expressions of the way we understand and relate to nature. From the perspective of the modernist garden, Claudia is dedicated to thinking and producing works that talk about Brazilian nature, about the rescue that the contact with this environment can provide in the face of the virtualization of current relationships and experiences.
The images that make up the works were made in different locations – Inhotim / Brumadinho, MG; Vila Elisa / Sabará, MG; Sitio de Burle Marx, RJ; Aterro do Flamengo, RJ; and Jardins, SP – and represent a synthesis of diverse gardens, with interferences from urban plans, sidewalks, walls and other details, in a migration of species and reconfiguration of possibilities.
The Confluence series takes photography to three-dimensionality, continuing the review of the relationship with nature proposed by the artist; it depicts Tocantins, Paraná, and rivers Solimões and Iguaçu.
Graduated in art history, fine arts and photography, Claudia develops a work that is attentive to multifaceted practices and the diversity of contemporary photography. Her production is characterized by an intense research that uses different medias, such as photography, video, internet and installations. In photography, she works with various formats and means of production, from photographic practice in the studio to documentary photos, in a research on the materiality of the image that questions the very nature of photography itself.
About Mariannita Luzzati
The works exhibited here were conceived by Luzzati from the study of the phenomenon of migrant vegetation: a frontier that marked physical and spiritual paths traced by man on our planet, defining the geological physiognomy of different civilizations over time.
The Brazilian landscape, central to Mariannita’s artistic research, is known for its extraordinary diversity. The Botanical Garden of Rio de Janeiro, created by Prince Dom João de Bragança in 1811, to acclimatize plants brought from eastern India to Brazil, is emblematic in this sense. The creation of this immense botanical park changed the city’s climate and landscape and was instrumental in creating an environment for the species that coexist with the surrounding tropical forests.
Migrations have radically transformed and re-transformed pre-existing situations and contexts. Paleobotanical research developed from macropossils and pollen diagrams indicates that, long before any human intervention, plant species had already migrated due to climate change, natural disturbances and development processes. The effects of human intervention on forest ecosystems, however, have been progressively increasing due to population growth and the diversification of human activities.
In Natura, the artist presents a platform for reflection on Brazil and on the possibilities of reconnecting man with nature in its purest state.
Living and producing in London since the 1990s, Mariannita Luzzati has never distanced herself from Brazil, from where the landscapes continue to be explored in her painting, engraving and drawing works. Chromatic research and a representation that does not seek objective clarity, with unclear limits between the elements of the images portrayed, are frequent in her work that allows to surface, subtly, environmental and social issues, so fashionable and urgent in our time .