Biodiversity

Biodiversity is the foundation of all life. This collage is part of a body of work conceived in 2018 during a 5-week artist residency at the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation in Captiva, Florida. The piece depicts Pachamama. In Inca worldview, Pachamama is a fertility goddess who presides over planting and harvesting, embodies the mountains, and causes the earth to move. She is also an independent force who has her own self-sufficient and creative power to sustain life on this earth. The four cosmological Quechua principles – Water, Earth, Sun, and Moon – claim Pachamama as their prime origin. (Source: Wikipedia)

The Rauschenberg art residency was the most productive and artistically regenerative time I had experienced in my life. The picturesque tropical beach landscapes in Captiva truly expanded my imagination and gifted me with the time and space to get lost in my own images and ideas. The environment allowed me to feel relaxed and to forget the urgency of city life, and to delve deep into my creativity. During this time of isolation, I realized how much I value my solitude and my ability to make art. Bob’s spirit was present throughout the compound, and it was an honor to partake in the kingdom he had built for himself. The natural environment - everything from the leaves on the trees, to the ocean waves, to the many different kinds of wildlife on Captiva, - inspired me to take my artistic practice to another level.