JOHANNA UNZUETA
MODERN ART OXFORD
VIRTUAL EXHIBITION: ON LINE NOW: ADMISSION FREE bit.ly/ToolsforLifeVirtual
REVIEW by KATHLEEN BONDAR
An apt title as we enter a phase of inter-connectivity in isolation. Open the link to explore themes of nature, mathematics, ethical fashion and architecture in JOHANNA UNZUETA: TOOLS FOR LIFE including the large-scale felt chain sculpture Related to Myself and murals drawn by the artist with oil pastel directly onto the walls.
Unzueta (b. 1974, Santiago, Chile) studied art at the Universidad Católica de Chile in Santiago. She has lived and worked in New York City since 2000 and exhibited extensively throughout Europe, North America and South America. Her inspiration is her world. She is acutely aware of that which is precious and yet taken for granted from materials to basic elements such as water. Unzueta therefore recyles pipes and cloth in her art including materials from South America. Cloth is central to her work - she sews and embroiders and combines fabrics such as recycled denim from a Guatemalan factory. She employs natural paints including an ancient indigo and paint from the beetroot plant . Above all Unzueta considers and marks the human effort - labour, time and care - in creating objects and resources.
“Everything I’m doing now began in my childhood; I have been working with textiles since I was five. I grew up working with my hands. My mum always said I learned to weave and knit before I learned to read and write. Hands are tools for me and I can’t disconnect that.”