Maria Nepomuceno TRANS, Victoria Miro

TRANS, at Victoria Miro in Islington, is a curious new solo exhibition by Brazilian artist Maria Nepomuceno. Coming from a generation of Rio-based artists who have attracted an international audience, Nepomuceno creates vibrant woven environments and this latest show is her most ambitious to date. Her works make reference to the traditional craft techniques of indigenous Brazilian cultures. But at the same time she has developed sewing skills that are wholly unique; skills that enable her to weave complex organic forms that morph across the space. Nepomuceno combines crafts such as rope weaving and straw braiding, with ready-made materials such as bricks and pipes to create a sculptural environment that embeds itself in the existing architecture of the gallery.  

The suffix trans – meaning across or beyond – evokes the connections between past and present, self and other, the body and its environment. The rope, which for Nepomuceno has 'an inherent poetical kinship with the umbilical cord', is a recurring motif in her work. As genetic information is passed on from mother to child, craft techniques are traditionally passed down from generation to generation. Of course many traditional crafts are at risk of disappearing, falling by the wayside in the face of Brazil’s rapid urbanization.  By breathing new life into these traditions Nepomuceno seeks to make connections between the past – her cultural roots – and the present.  

The spiral is another important shape for Nepomuceno because it appears in nature at different scales: from a snail's shell to a galaxy. Like the rope, the spiral symbolises interconnectedness. The microcosm resembles the macroscosm. Familiar domestic objects such as hammocks, hats, baskets, and ropes, also resemble DNA, bacteria, or a solar system, projecting us from the human scale to up to the cosmic or down to the microbic. Whilst an affinity and longing for Brazilian culture is at the heart of Nepomuceno’s work, these forms also suggest the universality of all human culture, derived from a single source or mother. As the title TRANS suggests, her work travels across and goes beyond its origin, and finds pertinence for a growing international audience.