Terruños
Inma Barrero
Inma Barrero is inspired by nature and the female body. She experiments with forms and glazes from diverse cultures and traditions, pushing boundaries in search of new languages.
Often surreal and poetic, her sculptures appear to come to life and inhabit their exhibition spaces.
Jardines is composed of three panels that reach the ceiling like a sacred triptych, adorned with individually crafted porcelain pieces engraved with Barrero’s fingerprints. The pieces reference the architecture and culture of her native Spain, including the Moorish tradition of covering walls with ceramic tiles, as well as images and motifs embellishing church altars in Spain and the Americas. The delicate porcelain pieces fill the space with their presence, like words recited aloud.
Barrero often incorporates fragments of ceramics in her work. Arbol de la Vida fills the garden with porcelain shards that seem to grow from the ground. They creep up the bark of a living tree, embracing it, rising like a serpent, but also (this is a bit of a jump and a lot of imagery at once. I might suggest simplifying) evoking internal organs, fruits, animal parts: a Tree of Life.
In her final triptych, Brujerías, a short film is projected onto three screens. It features choreographer Blanca Li, dancing flamenco in Barrero’s home in Seville. Her dance shatters the dress and sends porcelain shards flying out in all directions, destroying preconceived notions of the feminine and domesticity to feel liberated.
