Villa de Leyva - Colombia
Earth Pigments
The journey began with the invitation to the cultural center El Boga in Santa Cruz de Mompós in northern Colombia as an artist in residence.
When I started thinking about a project that I could implement during my stay, I realized that I wanted to take this opportunity to not only connect with the country and the people, but also with the land and the surrounding itself and to transform a part of it into my work.
I started experimenting with natural color pigments at the beginning of my trip. When I arrived in the mountains of the Andes I found a wide variety of the most impressive color palettes. I spent weeks exploring spectacular landscapes always looking for new colors I can use.
Collecting these pigments has helped me to deepen my connection to this piece of earth and to understand how important this relationship requires slowness and intention. This process has given me a new experience and relationship to colors and to my work in general. The practice of collecting and processing natural colors is unique to every indivdual and place.
It is something I've grown to embrace - I find myself stopping off roads just to collect a little bit of red clay and to start learning more and more about the land beneath us.
Santa Cruz de Mompós - Colombia.
Workshops
About the earth pigment workshops for children of the local primary school of Mompós at the cultural center El Boga.
When I got to Mompós I kept working and experimenting with the materials I had collected in the Andes and also started trying different things like nutshells and leaves.
Day after day I stood in the house kitchen cooking and grinding one pigment after the other and messing up most of it, but in the end I got some really appeling results and the most beautiful colour pallete I could have imagined.
After weeks full of experimenting we organized a workshop for children of the local primary school.
I think as adults we're constantly trying to find the door that leads us back to the pure way of being when we create. Sharing my knowledge with children and watching how they made art and created without ego and a critical voice with the materials we made together showed me once again what really matters when it comes to creating something with your hands.
