Curated by Luana Fortes

​From where I am, I am already gone

 

"From where I am | I am already gone," Fernanda Galvão’s first solo show in the United States delves into displacement, impermanence, and the sustainability of relationships in contemporary living. It reflects her path across different countries, cultures, and landscapes since leaving her hometown of São Paulo, Brazil. The exhibition’s title, inspired by Brazilian poet Manoel de Barros (1916-2014), encapsulates the feeling of being in transit—both physically and emotionally—while contemplating the fragmentation of identity that derives from being away from home. Like Barros, the artist seeks the unnameable and undefinable aspects of existence.

 

Galvão’s works invite viewers to question the boundaries of home and identity, offering a poetic vision of contemporary life and reflecting the reality of some Latin American artists that migrate to Europe. The exhibition is the result of a close collaboration with Brazilian curator Luana Fortes, who presents as curatorial text a letter sharing the collaborative working process behind the show, mirroring the intersection of personal and professional, which can transcend geographical boundaries.

 

The show’s body of work comes from the visual references Galvão and Fortes have shared with each other from plants, creatures and landscapes that surround their day-to-day lives, starting with the neighborhood the artist used to live in, and the curator’s current home. The result is a mixture of images from Brazil’s economic center, the Californian desert of Joshua Tree, fish markets in Seoul, and the regal gardens of cities like Paris. Fernanda Galvão’s paintings and drawings bring together real and imagined elements that create places that differ from what people are used to experiencing, which is her way of contemplating a possible future in the midst of climate catastrophe. The way people have been living has been proving to be unsustainable and doomed to failure. That leads Galvão's paintings to be of beings that are diverse, but never human.

 

The artist's ongoing research lives in the world of plants, climates, and creatures, referencing species she discovers on her outings, alongside illustrations from books and insights derived from science fiction films and literature. Through her artwork, she creates a glossary of living beings. Viewers may recognize these forms, either as familiar species or as echoes of Galvão’s earlier works. However, as she distances herself from São Paulo and becomes immersed in diverse cultures, her references change. They increasingly diverge from their origins, gaining strength where impermanence prevails.

 

This confluence of references in Galvão’s works emphasizes the importance of nature as a lens for envisioning potential futures. Whether fiction or nonfiction, Fernanda Galvão’s paintings invite us to consider a world where resilience and care can shape a future, offering insights into contemporary life.

 

– Luana Fortes ​​​