ASH AND WIND - CENERE E VENTO

Mixed media

Materials: canvas, cotton sheets, burned paper, ash

86.5 W x 47.5 H x 6 D cm

2026

This textured work belongs to the series dedicated to the signs, traces, and imprints left by human presence. Every action produces a residue, visible or hidden, and the work transforms this idea into a physical and emotional landscape.

Inspired by the fragile balance between destruction and renewal, the work evokes a silent landscape where memory survives in the residue of transformation. Recycled cotton sheets, soaked in gesso and vinyl glue, are molded directly onto the canvas to create a sculptural surface reminiscent of the rhythm of a forest or windswept trees. Before being assembled, sheets of tissue paper stained with alcohol inks are burned while still wet, allowing the heat and humidity to interact in unpredictable ways. The pink marks that emerge are not painted, but are the result of pigments released during the combustion and absorbed by the fabric.

Because ash retains its delicate nature, the surface can continue to evolve imperceptibly over time. Small particles may detach or shift, despite the work's careful attachment. Rather than being considered a flaw, this silent transformation is embraced as an integral part of the work itself, an extension of her exploration of impermanence, memory, and the fragile beauty of that which can never be fully preserved.

A veil of black ash is then left to settle on the surface, as if carried by the wind. Fixed with layers of translucent and white acrylic spray, the ash becomes both material and metaphor: it softens, conceals, and reveals the landscape beneath. The work straddles the boundary between permanence and erosion, inviting the viewer to reflect on what remains after change and the quiet beauty that lies within what survives.