Portraits of Leaf Women
For many years, I have explored the relationship between humans and nature through portraits of my family, reflecting on themes of sisterhood, intergenerational connection, and our shared bond with the Earth. Anima means “soul” in Latin and “breath” in ancient Greek. It signifies the life force that animates all beings, including humans, animals, and plants.
These paintings are based on archival and personal photographs of women from my family and of the Indigenous Ona (Selk’nam) people of Patagonia. During a visit to Patagonia, I learned that the Ona lived there for seven thousand years before colonization led to the genocide of their entire tribe. Through these portraits, I pay tribute to the Ona women, whose lives were deeply intertwined with the natural world.
The Anima Tribe paintings express our profound connection with the natural world, a world we must protect and preserve as part of ourselves, rooted in our shared breath, memory, and essence.
The Shade of Tiara Anima, 2025
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Amina Flames, 2020
Interactive Mural as part of The Night of Ideas: Being Alive
Tempera on paper, Variable size
The project was a collective, interactive, and outgoing art installation, inviting all the visitors to participate in creating a mixed and united mural of prints that involved their own prints besides paw prints, leaves, tree bark, and stone prints. Being alive together to celebrate our coexistence with nature.
Inspired by the shapes of tree seed pods (like
the Kapok), chrysalises, distaffs, and spindles I have created a textile
sculpture in a contemporary shape. Distaff and spindle are old instruments used
for the spinning of natural fibers.
They symbolize exclusively
feminine work and are a symbol of life and time. The motif of handprints has
been present in my work for several years, as both a subject and as a tool for
painting. Embracing the uniqueness of each individual, handprints are both
individual and universal symbols for humanity and demonstrate memories of touch
and our collective unconscious. |
| Spindles 100: Hers at the Huntington Garden, April 2018 |
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| Spindles 100: Hers at the LA Arboretum, July 2018 |
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Offering at the Huntington Garden, April 2018 Natural fibers (from the Huntington White Floss Silk tree) and acrylic on fabric |
Rose petals and tree rubbing, natural rose color, and pencil on fabric
