María Alejandra Torres
Resident AiR Green Spring 2024
Bogotá, Colombia (1986)
María Alejandra Torres completed her BFA from the University Jorge Tadeo Lozano de Bogotá. Later, she travelled to Oslo, Norway to complete an MFA in Material and Medium Based Art, from Khio. She has shown her work in Bogotá in spaces like, Plural-Nodo Cultural, Liberia, La Galería Santafé and Cámara de Comercio de Bogotá. She has also been artist in residence at Flora Ars Natura in 2018, and participated in the residencies of Obra Viva, a project facilitated by Los Museos del Banco de la República and Artesanías de Colombia in 2022. For two years she has co-directed the project Pajarita Caucana, which seeks for an alternative use of the coca plant: its use as a natural dye. The project has been exhibited in different places including the Sixty-Six and Sixty-Seven Sessions of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs at the United Nations in Vienna, Austria.
María Alejandra is both an observer and an explorer, always searching to understand the way people use textiles, and the ways in which they relate to them. Her interest has driven her to explore various places and regions, learning traditional textile techniques that enrich her artistic practice. In her pursuit, she not only learns from but also cultivates partnerships with local artisans, engaging in an exchange of knowledge and expertise. Her interest extends to the everyday use of textiles and the values that people ascribe to them, how these objects become powerful storytellers of communities, and how specific cultural features of a society are expressed through them.
Plans for the stay:
"During the residency at Air Green I’m planning to work on a series of paintings inspired by pre-columbian textiles that were painted by hand with intricate patterns and by a rock that is called “La Piedra de los Tejidos”, located in Sutatausa, a town where the spaniards indoctrinated native people. For the painting I will use different clays and pulverized rocks that I’ve been collecting from different locations in Colombia. I’m hoping the time on the farm will provide the calm setting to produce these pieces that require concentration as they are inspired by something I call weaving without weaving."
