04/08 – 08/08/22
Gallery 1. Level -1
First solo exhibition in Argentina of Peruvian artist Ana Teresa Barboza (Lima, 1981), in which the time and materials of the artisan work are interwoven with the territory and its communities. The exhibition brings together fourteen works from Barboza's recent production, condensing several recurring elements in his work. Three pieces were made especially for the exhibition, among them Quebradas que forman redes (2022), conceived as a site-specific for the triple height of Malba.
Ana Teresa Barboza makes art you want to touch to discover its different textures: cotton threads, wool, stones, reeds. Her work’s colors, materials, and forms are tied to traditional Peruvian textiles, which themselves attest to the close relationship between local communities and the natural environment. All of the works in Weaving Stones were produced during the last five years. They capture a number of elements that recur in Barboza’s art: observation of the landscape; interest in nature and its accidents, as well as in networks of social relations in the context of textile making; and the community ties at play in the materials she uses in her art. Her textiles and needlework evidence the family and cultural memories of the communities with which she works, whether on the coastal stretch of Peru—“El Paraíso” wetland in particular—or in the Andean region.
Barboza does not attempt to make perfect stitches or a postcard image, but rather to render variations of the landscape that arise from an unusual use of materials: weaves on hydrological maps that show the water that is no longer there; stones that breathe thread; photographs woven into tapestries. The natural environment makes itself felt in her particular relationship with the unfinished: her works—like nature itself—are always in process; they can change at any point.
In her tapestries and needlework, Ana Teresa Barboza explores age-old practices. She heeds both their solitary, private, and reflexive dimension and their collective and community facet as a way of inhabiting a territory and of embracing its traditions.
Curator: Verónica Rossi. Images: Ana Teresa Barboza y Rafael Freyre, Canastas unidas e Hilo continuo, both 2017.
Ana Teresa Barboza
Lima, Peru, 1981
She studied at the Faculty of Art of the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. She won the MAC National Art and Innovation Award, Lima (2019), and first prize in the Second National Painting Competition of the Central Reserve Bank of Peru, Lima (2010). Among the residencies in which she participated are the Australian Tapestry Workshop Artist in Residence program, Melbourne (2009), Residency at Folio – Fubon Artist Residency Program, Taipei (2017), Residency at Utopiana, Geneva (2015), and Residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris (2014). She also participated in the IV Biennial of the End of the World, Mar del Plata (2015), and in March 2022 she will participate in the XXIII Sydney Biennial. Her work is part of the collection of the Central Museum – Museum of the Central Reserve Bank of Peru (her work Ecosistema del agua won the MAC award in 2019), as well as private collections.
Catalogue
Alongside the exhibition, Malba presents the first publication on Barboza's work, her career, and her conceptual affinities. The book reproduces the works on display, along with a selection of photographs from previous series and graphic materials. It includes a curatorial essay by Verónica Rossi and an interview with the artist by Peruvian researcher and curator Florencia Portocarrero, which explores the relationships between her work and the context of the contemporary Peruvian scene. The publication is completed with a glossary of fundamental terms in textile art, conceived and illustrated by artist Guillermina Baiguera.
