Visual Strolls

seasonal residency

Visual Strolls is a residency space for artists who share an affinity for landscapes and wilderness, inner and outer. Foresta is changing with every season as the real forest does. In cyclical circularity it celebrates changing seasons of nature and of our lives. As snow melts away, as days grow longer, as leaves change colour, as they fly with the wind, as stillness settles in, as warmth returns, as birds cross continents — at the turn of each seasonal moment we invite a different artist to bring a new time of the year to Foresta by creating a portrait of time that later becomes part of the permanent Museum of Seasons.

Autumn 2017 Artist in Residence

Autumn 2017 Portrait

"La foresta me llama, me ha llamado siempre,  pero a veces no la escucho. A veces estoy demasiado ocupada en hacer ilustraciones. Hacer ilustraciones no debería ser la razón por la que no escucho a la foresta, y me pregunto: 
¿Qué es lo que me hace dejar de escuchar la foresta? La inseguridad, la competitividad, el prestigio, la expectativas, las mías y las ajenas, el miedo a equivocarme, el miedo al olvido, el miedo a no ser aceptada, a no ser parte de la tribu, de mi familia, el ego, la envidia, la prisa, la rigidez, estar sentada en una silla durante días, la pereza, la cabeza, no respirar, dejar de cantar, no bailar, no decir lo que siento, no creer en mi propia naturaleza, ni creer que mis brazos me sujetan, ni que mis piernas puedan saltar al otro lado del río, ignorar mi instinto, controlar, controlar con la razón, con las palabras, manipular, atar, ser egoista, temer el futuro, temer mi muerte y la de los otros, no dejarme llevar por el río, sentirme superior, sentirme inferior, juzgarme, juzgar…
Cuando me llama la foresta, en realidad lo que me llama es mi propio cuerpo. Lo escucho muy sutilmente porque el pensamiento habla demasiado alto. El cuerpo, la foresta, me habla con el movimiento, me habla con la respiración, las hormonas, los sentidos, diría que mas que hablarme lo que hace es cantarme o bailarme. El pensamiento necesita mi cerebro, la memoria, las palabras y unas cuantas neuronas espejo. 
Cuando estoy en la foresta, es decir, cuando habito mi cuerpo, no tengo ninguna duda, estoy en el lugar justo y lo sé.  Entonces mi pensamiento se da cuenta, y se calla un rato. Lo que me pasa en esos momentos no puedo explicarlo con palabras por eso es mejor que baile, cante, abrace, llore, salte el río, ría o haga ilustraciones." 

"The forest calls me. It has always called me, but sometimes I do not listen. Sometimes I'm too busy making illustrations. Making illustrations should not be the reason not to listen to the forest, and I wonder: What is it that makes me stop listening to the forest? Insecurity, competitiveness, prestige, expectations, my own and those of others, fear of making mistakes, fear of oblivion, fear of not being accepted, not being part of the tribe, of my family, the ego, envy, haste, rigidity, sitting in a chair for days, laziness, the head, not breathing, stopping to sing, not dancing, not saying what I feel, not believing in my own nature, or not believing that my arms will hold me, or that my legs can jump across the river, to ignore my instinct, to control, to control with reason, with words, to manipulate, to bind, to be selfish, to fear the future, to fear my own death and that of others, not to let myself be taken by the river, to feel superior, to feel inferior, to judge myself, to judge… ?
When the forest calls me, what really calls me is my own body. I hear it very subtly because the thoughts are too loud. The body, the forest, speaks to me through movement, it speaks to me through breath, the hormones, the senses. I would say that rather than speaking to me what it does is singing to me or dancing to me. The thoughts need my brain, my memory, words, and a few mirror neurons. When I am in the forest, that is, when I inhabit my body, I have no doubt I am in the right place and I know it. That’s when my thoughts realize it and stay silent for a while. What happens to me in those moments I cannot explain in words, this is why it is better to dance, sing, hug, cry, jump into the river, laugh or make illustrations."

About Visual Strolls

Visual Strolls is not only an online gallery, an exhibition room, a portrait into the work of the invited artist. It is also a part of our long-term research, understanding arts and creativity as forces that change human states of attention in manifold ways, as forms of cognition and perception, divergent perspectives and poetry of vision, access to intuition and imagination, and empowerment for conscious creation of culture. You can read more about Art into Life research here.

Cover image: Violeta Lopiz