Biography
I am a London-based artist that uses multi-disciplinary art practices to explore interactions between human manipulation of the natural world and nature’s response to these interferences.
From the early stages of my career, my work has displayed strong links with two of my childhood fascination for both archaeology and oceanography. My passion for water led me to seek human footprints in all kinds of aquatic environments. Using installation, sculpture, photography and film, I aspire to explore close interactions between human manipulation of the natural world and the response of nature to these interferences.
In one of my first series of work, I used salt crystals to highlight the problems of human-induced desertification, in particular, the disappearance of the Aral Sea in Central Asia.
Later on, after participating in a group exhibition at the Royal Festival Hall in London, I suffered a traumatic spinal accident and had to undergo severe physiotherapy to regain the full use of my legs. My first solo exhibition entitled 'CIRCUITOUS' (2007) maps this recovery process and took place in the studio of the now deceased artist Robyn Denny in London.
Since then, I have participated in numerous art exhibitions and film festivals like Loop in Barcelona , Edinburg and the Venice Biennale . I have also collaborated with architects and scientists in water-related environmental projects. These include Biomimicry-based: 'Dubai ecoMachines _World Dubai Coral reef Incubators' with ecoLogicStudio and their student Architects from the AA. 'Empooling Landscapes', with UEL- University of East London exploring the effects of salt crystals on different construction materials for the erection of structures within the marshlands of the ‘Coto de Doña Ana National Park’, in Andalucía.
A couple of years ago, I was invited to participate in 'Gustav Metzger: Facing extinction' Conference as a guest speaker for the 'Global Systems: Food and Water Panel' and act as Chairperson to the 'Panel of Biodiversity'. The exhibition culminated in a Marathon of talks that took place over two whole days at the Serpentine Gallery in London.
Shortly after this event, I was invited to join a crew of 14 women as artist-in-residence, sailing across the Atlantic on a scientific exploration. The purpose of the journey was to collect samples of microplastic pollutants using manta trawl nets to contribute to a range of international research projects like: The Marine Litter Watch (UN Environmental Agency); UN Safe Planet Campaign (UNEP); SECCHI Phytoplankton Disk Project (Plymouth University); Marine Environmental Research Institute MERI (Maine USA); MTM Research Centre (Örebro University, Sweden).
Most recently I joined the ArtCop21 global programme of events with: ‘Plastic Seas’, a film & performance collaboration with Susana Sanromán curated by the ‘SpainNOW’ Festival in London.
With my present series of plastic based art works, I intend to explore the future through the waste that our current consumption habits generate. Specifically, how discarded traces of our presence and the current linear systems of production are polluting one of the planet’s most vital and fragile environments: WATER.
My current art works reflect on these concerns through a series of ‘Sealed-Time- Capsules’ that aim to preserve these discarded artefacts as reference for the future, but also, as on-going visual displays to plastic’s degradation process over time.
