ESTHER ELENA PEA
TENERIFE, 1994
Working with the idea of nature from the artistic practice, allows me to establish visual, analytical and critical proposals, establishing connections between concepts frequently assumed in our society and my own individual experiences, with the objective of favoring a more complex and holistic image of this idea.
In general terms, nowadays, nature is perceived by western society as a dual concept; on the one hand, it is that which functions at the margin of humanity, which escapes human control, thus, landscapes without architectural constructions -beaches, mountains or ravines- and the rest of living beings -animals and plants, as well as their developments and interactions- are perceived as natural spaces; while, on the other hand, nature also defines every gesture, attitude, quality or predisposition that is given or arises spontaneously in each person. In this way, paradoxically, nature is that which is outside of us and at the same time that which is within each one of us.
This perception leads me to confront the work of art through two nineteenth-century figures: the detective and the naturalist. As well as by their ways of proceeding, since both investigate and collect data from the environment in which they find themselves. In this way, my artistic approaches are approached from ‘field work’ -making tours and drifts in physical spaces- and ‘study processes’ -reflections on what is developed in each space, establishing abstract relationships between the different spaces of physical, theoretical and formal order. Working in relation to concrete spaces, I also think about exhibitions. Acting on the basis of concrete facts and spaces leads me to make site-specific exhibitions.