The Inner Rhythm of the Collective

About

The Inner Rhythm of the Collective is a sculptural installation that consists of hanging textiles suspended from the ceiling. Pale translucent silk fabrics hang next to a variety of found fabrics including uniforms from state schools and football apparel from the artist's hometown São Paulo. Like a cultural patchwork, the installation forms a transitory space within the gallery that flutters and vibrates with the movement of the body as it passes through.

Influenced by her own movement between – leaving her native Brazil to live and work in the United Kingdom, an enduring theme of the artist's practice is the connection between the individual and the group across global cultures. Her portable modules of space are designed to be packed in her suitcase as she travels between continents, the artist's own personal journey highlights the universal nomadism of a globalised world, challenging preconceived ideas of the home, the work hauls material culture and a collective sense of belonging and dwelling in the world.

Da Silva’s contemporary arrangement of space highlights the unstable boundaries of its categorisation along lines of collectivity, mobility and fixity. The semi-transparent quality of the flags serve both to conceal and frame the views of this process, uniting spaces through which the body travels between cultures.

Appropriated imagery including graphics found in European, African and Brazilian national flags are patchworked together and an array of symbols from different cultures and parts of the world, from Adinkra symbols of Ghana to logos as ‘Beanz’ and ‘Guaraná’, are screen-printed directly onto the surface of the flags. This juxtaposition of symbols establishes a close relationship between the differences and celebrates the ‘diversity’ that binds us all.

Within this framework, the installation critiques the current changing socio-cultural landscape, for da Silva the flags hold real power in their symbolism to suggest new modes of belonging collectively.

Vanessa da Silva (b. São Paulo, Brazil) lives & works in London. She has a BA in Industrial Design, FAAP (São Paulo, Brazil) (1999) and an MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art (UK) (2017).

Recent exhibitions include: Female Voices of Latin America, @Vortic with Public Gallery (London, UK) (2021); Assembly Points, Public Gallery (London, UK) (2020); Four Flags, Jaqueline Martins Gallery (São Paulo, Brazil), CIAP Kunstverein (Genk, Belgium), La Loge (Brussels, Belgium) (2020); Salón Acme N0.8 (Mexico City, Mexico) (2020); Vertical Zen [solo], Hospitalfield (Arbroath, Scotland) (2019); Muamba Grove [solo], Sculpture Park Commission, Duarte Sequeira Gallery (Braga, Portugal) (2019).