How To Eat The Sun and The Moon
15 March - 24 April 2024
Goodman Gallery Johannesburg
Laura Lima | How To Eat The Sun and The Moon
Goodman Gallery Johannesburg
Laura Lima
Head-Image
Goodman Gallery is delighted to present Rio de Janeiro-based artist Laura Lima’s first major solo exhibition on the continent, How To Eat The Sun and The Moon. Featuring a series of new, large-scale textile pieces, the show explores Brazilian mythology, nature and the transformation of materials over time.
Laura Lima
Tutu, 2023
Raw cotton threads dyed by natural pigments and wire
Work: 145 x 136 x 34 cm (57.1 x 53.5 x 13.4 in.)
Unique
Laura Lima
Charía, 2023
Raw cotton threads dyed by natural pigments and wire
Work: 249.9 x 189.9 x 29.8 cm (98.4 x 74.8 x 11.7 in.)
Unique
Laura Lima
Omar, 2023
Raw cotton threads dyed by natural pigments and wire
Work: 203 x 100 x 40 cm (79.9 x 39.4 x 15.7 in.)
Unique
Over the past two decades, Lima has worked across multiple media including installation, cinema, textiles, and notions of performativity, always addressing philosophical aspects to offer an ongoing interrogation of conceptual frameworks people use to make sense of the world. Her practice also intimately engages with materiality, often inviting organic matter, degradation and the passage of time as agents in the formation and long-term existence of her works. The Johannesburg show follows Laura Lima: Balè Literal, a major solo exhibition held at MACBA in 2023 which will tour to MAM Rio de Janeiro in May 2025. A dedicated publication is due to be published later in the year by Cobogó.
Laura Lima
Matinta Pereira, 2023
Raw cotton threads dyed by natural pigments
Work: 210 x 240 x 20 cm
Unique
Laura Lima
Irapuru, 2023
Raw cotton threads dyed by natural pigments and wire
Work: 250 x 290 x 65 cm (98.4 x 114.2 x 25.6 in.)
Unique
Back Detail | Laura Lima, Irapuru, 2023
Laura Lima
Caboclinho do Mato, 2023
Raw cotton threads dyed by natural pigments
Work: 90 x 70 x 30 cm (35.4 x 27.6 x 11.8 in.)
Unique
The foundation for this body of work comes from Lima’s research on Brazilian folklore and spiritual imaginaries from the countryside, where she grew up. Her interest in the natural world and cultural syncretism histories is also represented materially through the use of dye extracted from plants and vegetables. The abstract fabric assemblages exist as floating structures suspended across the gallery space. Through the porosity of each work created by gaps in the woven structure, Lima encourages viewers to pause, move around and activate the performative energy that the show commands.
Laura Lima
Ipupiara, 2023
Raw cotton threads dyed by natural pigments, wire and wood
Work: 210 x 230 x 10 cm (82.7 x 90.6 x 3.9 in.)
Unique
Laura Lima
Chupa Cabra, 2023
Raw cotton threads dyed by natural pigments
Work: 150 x 130 x 30 cm (59.1 x 51.2 x 11.8 in.)
Unique
Laura Lima
Anhanguá, 2023
Raw cotton threads dyed by natural pigments
Work: 210 x 230 x 10 cm (82.7 x 90.6 x 3.9 in.)
Unique
Back Detail | Laura Lima, Anhanguá, 2023
Laura Lima (b. 1971, Brazil) practice employs a variety of media often incorporating living organisms and actions that are performed for long periods of time, to explore ways in which human behaviour alters our perception of the everyday.
Selected solo exhibitions include: Laura Lima: Balé Literal, MACBA, Barcelona, Spain (2023); Slight Agitation 4/4: Laura Lima, Cavalo Come Rei, Fondazione Prada, Milan, Italy (2018); Laura Lima: Alfaiataria, Pinacoteca de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil (2018); A Room and a Half, Ujazdowski Castle, Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw, Poland (2017); The Inverse, Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, USA (2016); El mago desnudo, Museo de Arte Moderna de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina (2015) and The Naked Magician, Statens Museum for Kunst, National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark (2015).
Selected group shows include: Witch Hunt, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, USA (2021); Pinacoteca: Collection, Pinacoteca de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil (2020); Look for Me All Around You: Leaving the Echo Chamber, 14th Sharjah Biennial, United Arab Emirates (2019); Mulheres na Coleção MAR, Museu de Arte do Rio, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2018); Divided We Stand, Busan Biennale, Busan, South Korea (2018); and Welcome to the Jungle, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany (2018).
Collections include: Instituto Inhotim, Modern Art Museum of São Paulo, Bonniers Konsthall, Migros Museum fur Gegenwartskunst, Hammer Museum, Museu de Arte da Pampulha, Zabludowicz Collection, Bonnefantenmuseum.
Lima lives and works in Rio de Janeiro.