Date of Award
2025
Document Type
MA Project - Restricted Access (SIA Only)
Project Type
MA Project - Curatorial Proposal
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Contemporary Art
First Advisor
Agnes Berecz
Second Advisor
Maria Sancho-Arroyo
Abstract
The exhibition In Times of Urgency showcases how three female artists—amid
unprecedented threats to the Earth's ecosystem such as climate change, uncontrolled deforestation, and widespread water scarcity—explore the intricate relationships between the body and the environment, the mystical and the physical, and the dichotomy between destruction and rebirth. Using video and installation, Mashael Alasaie, Margherita Chiarva, and Martina Quesada portray ecofeminist ideas inspired by myths, rituals, and dreams, each offering a unique and diverse exploration of this complex and long-existing topic. Mashael Alasaie draws from the folklore and myth surrounding Ain Adhari, a spring in her hometown in Bahrain that vanished due to oil exploitation, as a poignant commentary on environmental loss and cultural amnesia. Her multimedia installation, Sea of Tears, consists of forty glass sculptures infused with frankincense suspended in a dark space, surrounded by two video projections of molten glass and fire, creating a visceral experience of transformation and renewal. Inspired by her grandmother’s
storytelling, Alsaie focused on The Myth of the Maiden of Adhari, which recalls a young maiden being menacingly approached by a strange man in a palm tree grove; she wails in fear until her gushing tears are metamorphosed into an eternal spring. In Sea of Tears, Alasaie mourns the ecological devastation and reimagines the spring through the glass sculptures as an anthropomorphized female entity similar to the maiden's tears metamorphosing from a physical body into a mythical body of water. Margherita Chiarva's performative piece titled 7 Steps captures the artist's engagements with the Atacama Desert, emphasizing the esoteric power of personal ritual. Her seven-day ritual consisted of walking seven steps three times a day, at dawn, zenith, and sunset, at different locations in the desert - every day, with a different intention. Of each step, Chiarva took a black-and-white photograph, an act to transmit her intentions to the Universe. After completing the seven steps, she turned around, walked back, and collected seven stones as a grounding act. Her psycho-magical ritual was entirely recorded and transformed into a powerful video accompanied by a captivating sound. Steps offers an intimate meditation on the role of feminine energy and its power in fostering transformation: the 21 photographs of each day were printed in the dark room and then sewn, a traditional female occupation, on seven large linen fabrics with red thread and finally combined with the cyanotype fabric imprint and the video. The vast desert landscape profoundly impacted Chiarva, who, in deep connection with nature, started feeling very small and humble and realized that the Earth is a powerful entity capable of deciding humanity’s fate. Martina Quesada’s work, Like Earth in Heaven, consists of a big-scale installation, a digital video, and twenty pigmented papers inspired by two vivid dreams triggered by concerns associated with news about ecological devastation. The installation utilizes hand-formed clay figures and a mixture of ashes, plaster, marble dust, and white pigment to represent eroded landscapes, embodying beauty and destruction. The work is connected to a dream of a burnt forest where the ashes, the remains of branches, and burnt trunks are all white—the result of a tragic event caused by humans. However, the paradox is that ash is one of the most potent fertilizers, and a more lush and vigorous forest may be reborn after a major fire. The work speaks of climate change and the disastrous wildfires that have occurred in recent years due to global warming. It also reflects on our relationship with destruction and rebirth and our ignorance regarding the true meaning of the laws of nature. Accompanying the installation is a video based on another dream Martina developed from satellite imagery of Patagonia’s ice fields, presenting a spectral figure navigating a stark, surreal environment, reminding viewers of the precarious balance between human life and the planet’s ecosystems. In Times of Urgency, the works of Mashael Alsaie, Margherita Chiarva, and Martina Quesada offer a contemporary exploration of ecofeminism; each one draws from different esoteric dimensions—myth, dreams, and rituals— as a robust framework to convey their unique perspectives. Working with video, performance, land art, and installation, it celebrates the female spirit’s power to heal and bring awareness to a world needing urgent balance.
Recommended Citation
Vilela, Josefina, "In Times of Urgency" (2025). MA Projects. 214.
https://digitalcommons.sia.edu/stu_proj/214