More from Luo Yang, chronicler of modern Chinese youth, depicting a generation of women that don’t ascribe to Western stereotypes or the expectations of their elders.
“My work isn’t autobiographical,” Maria, who hails from Colombia explains. “But I do paint idealised parts of myself in the women I create. These are women I want to be: in harmony with themselves and nature, strong, vulnerable, compassionate and courageous.”
Maria’s Colombian heritage plays a large role in her work, which is laced with themes of South American mythology and folklore. […] “Of late I have been most haunted by a young girl from my piece Aluna, a girl laying her face and hands down upon what appears to be the body of a tiger. Aluna was inspired by a practice of Kogi people in Colombia. After birth, a newborn who has been determined to become a shaman is brought into a cave to remain there for nine years. During that time the child is trained to become in touch with the inner world until they are brought outside to view the world they have only had described to them. I pictured this girl in Aluna as having been brought out from the cave only to the confusion and heartbreak of a world flooded by chaos.“
—Laura Isabella, “Latin American artist Maria Berrio’s collages explore the innate power of women.” [x]
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