Maria Laet. Notes on the limit of the sea. 2011. Video (color, silent), 11:42 min. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Patricia Phelps de Cisneros through the Latin American and Caribbean Fund in honor of Adriana Catalina Santiago de Cisneros

“Many of my works take place through some surface, a sort of skin that is crossed through.”

Maria Laet

“Many of my works take place through some surface, a sort of skin that is crossed through,” Maria Laet has said.1 Using sand, gauze, soil, or ink as materials, Laet uses her body to explore aspects of permeability, visibility, and ephemerality. Her meditative and carefully executed actions are inspired by what she has described as “a question on the (non) boundary…between the body and the world.”2

Born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Laet has explored the body in relation to the natural environment since at least 2006. While studying in Rio and London, she encountered the works of artists Ana Mendieta and Lygia Clark, which became references in her understanding of “the skin as a space of encounter and dialogue.”3 Like the work of Clark and Mendieta, Laet’s art activates porous materials alongside in-between spaces, highlighting impermanence as part of everyday life.

Notes on the limit of the sea, a video of a performance, shows the artist sewing a white thread across the sand on a shore close to the sea. The tide ebbs and flows, washing away Laet’s seemingly ordinary gestures. For the artist, the sand and the limit of the sea in this work act as a kind of skin “that is not a limit but a place of encounter, an exchange territory.”4 Similarly, Laet’s Caminho, part of the print portfolio The Valise, is a monotype that marks the trace of the artist’s body, its weight and movement, on paper. This unique piece, explains Laet, “is the record of a path without landscape, without reference or address, where the place is the measure of the body and the present moment in which it happens.”5

Laet’s practice closely engages with the art histories of Brazil. Most notably, her practice has a direct relation to the work of Neo-Concrete artists, namely the Grupo Frente—a collective originally from her native Rio that includes artists like Hélio Oiticica and Lygia Pape. Unlike their art, however, Laet’s works, such as Earth (Canudos), do not place our senses as the center of their proposal. In these works, instead, a meditative creative action takes precedence, calling attention to what Laet has described as a kind of “necessary silence.”6

Julián Sánchez González, The Cisneros Institute Research Fellow, Department of Drawings and Prints, 2023

“Varias de mis obras se realizan a través una superficie, como una especie de piel que las atraviesa”.

Maria Laet

“Varias de mis obras se realizan a través una superficie, como una especie de piel que las atraviesa”, ha dicho Maria Laet.7 Utilizando arena, gasa, tierra o tinta como materiales, Laet emplea su propio cuerpo para explorar distintos aspectos de la permeabilidad, la visibilidad y la fugacidad. Sus acciones, reflexivas y llevadas a cabo con extremo cuidado, están inspiradas en lo que ella misma ha descrito como “un cuestionamiento a la (no) frontera... entre el cuerpo y el mundo”.8

Nacida y criada en Río de Janeiro, Laet ha explorado la relación entre el cuerpo y el entorno natural por lo menos desde 2006. Cuando estudiaba en Río y en Londres, conoció las obras de las artistas Ana Mendieta y Lygia Clark, quienes se convirtieron en referentes por su forma de concebir “la piel como punto de encuentro y diálogo”.9 Al igual que las obras de Clark y Mendieta, el arte de Laet pone en marcha materiales porosos en espacios intermedios, lo que destaca la impermanencia como parte de la vida cotidiana.

En Notes on the limit of the sea, vídeo de una performance, se puede ver a la artista cosiendo la arena con un hilo blanco en una orilla junto al mar. La marea sube y baja, borrando los gestos aparentemente comunes de Laet. Para la artista, la arena y el límite del mar funcionan en esta obra como una especie de piel “que no es un límite, sino un espacio de encuentro, un territorio de intercambio”.10 Del mismo modo, la pieza Caminho, que forma parte de la carpeta de grabados The Valise, es un monotipo que registra sobre el papel la huella del cuerpo de la artista, su peso y su movimiento. Esta pieza única, explica Laet, “es el registro de un camino sin paisaje, sin referencias ni dirección, en el que el lugar está marcado por la medida del cuerpo y el momento presente en el que sucede”.11

La obra de Laet está estrechamente vinculada a la historia del arte de Brasil. Sobre todo, mantiene una relación directa con la obra de los artistas Neoconcretos, en particular del Grupo Frente —un colectivo creado en su Río natal en el que participaron artistas como Hélio Oiticica y Lygia Pape. Sin embargo, a diferencia de su obra, las piezas de Laet —como por ejemplo Tierra (Canudos)— no centran su propuesta en nuestros sentidos. En estas obras, en cambio, prima una acción creativa de carácter reflexivo, que llama la atención sobre lo que Laet ha descrito como una suerte de “silencio necesario”.12

Julián Sánchez González, investigador residente del Instituto Cisneros, 2023

  1. Gabriel Pérez-Barreiro in an interview with Maria Laet, 2018. https://marialaet.com/en/textos/maria-laet-2/.

  2. Internal communication with Maria Laet, 2020.

  3. Ibid.

  4. Maria Laet, Notes on the limit of the sea, 2018. Media and Performance object file.

  5. Internal communication with Maria Laet, 2023.

  6. Paulo Sergio Duarte, Felipe Scovino, and Maria Laet, “Imperativo e acidente,” 2010. https://marialaet.com/en/textos/imperativo-e-acidente/.

  7. Gabriel Pérez-Barreiro en una entrevista con Maria Laet, 2018. https://marialaet.com/en/textos/maria-laet-2/.

  8. En una comunicación interna con Maria Laet, 2020.

  9. Ibid.

  10. Maria Laet, Notas sobre los límites del mar, 2018. Archivo de objetos multimedia y de performances.

  11. En una comunicación interna con Maria Laet, 2023.

  12. Paulo Sergio Duarte, Felipe Scovino y Maria Laet, “Imperativo e accidente”, 2010. https://marialaet.com/en/textos/imperativo-e-acidente/.

Works

3 works online

Exhibitions

Publication

  • Chosen Memories: Contemporary Latin American Art from the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Gift and Beyond Exhibition catalogue, Hardcover, 128 pages
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