Marta Masiero

Both in my personal history, and in the current political and economic situation of Brazil, my country of origin, there is friction and conflict. On the one hand, there is the sensuality and openness characteristic of the Brazilian people, and on the other there is corruption, violence and injustice. Here, pain, happiness and a feeling of belonging are things that go hand in hand.

After nearly three years of living in Europe, I have developed a different view of my country and its problems, and that fact has substantially changed the character of my work. The way I see my country brings me melancholy, but also a fascination with tropical Brazil. It possesses aspects that are exotic even for those who were born there. There are healing rituals; there are solidarity practices; there is a particular relationship with the body and with the surface of the skin.

In my work I use different strategies to grasp these relationships, ranging from micro to macro: mapping and reframing objects from my family history, thereby giving it different meanings; performing collective actions such as healing dinner parties, where I prepare meals according to people’s feelings and emotions; breaking and then trying to repair domestic objects such as plates, referring to that which cannot be fixed in life; revisiting art history and criticizing it; distributing candies that are related to my dreams; creating sugar sculptures that relate body and architecture; and so on.

www.martamasiero.com