1. What aspects does this artwork integrate (formally, plastically, or conceptually)?

This work is part of a series of drawings of interspecies mutations, where beings transform and metamorphose. There are tree-people, birds that turn into bow-people, and trees that bear fruit-people-beasts.

2. Where is it embedded? (what was the genesis of its creation? - the milieu, the context).

The different elements interconnect and communicate with each other through their individual forms and collective composition, thus creating an open-ended narrative of forms and designs that aims to speculate on the importance of each being in the collective.

3. What Question or Action does it pose?

This work reminds us of the possibility of fabricating futures and new forms of life that arise from recognizing the fluidity between states, an interspecies fluidity, the recognition of mineral, vegetable and animal as one single body. The plasticity of matter, which is one. We are all one body.

Maja Escher (Portugal, 1990) resides and works between Lisbon and Monte Novo da Horta dos Colmeeiros. Central to her creative process is the emphasis on collaborative practices, often sparked by moments of shared experiences, conversations, music, or encounters with found objects. She intricately weaves together materials like clay, reeds, ropes, stones, and vegetables with elements of riddles, folk wisdom, and melodies, creating a compelling interplay between traditional knowledge and modern technology, magic, and science.

Among her recent exhibitions are noteworthy showcases such "Pedras do Raio", Monitor (2024), "Catharsis" at the Porto Design Biennial 2023; "Mater", a collaborative effort with Virgínia Fróis and Marta Castelo, hosted at the Pavilhão Branco, Lisbon Municipal Galleries in 2023; "Só Pedimos que nos Semeiem na Terra", a joint endeavor with Sérgio Carronha, featured at the Monitor Gallery in Lisbon in 2022; and "Um Dia Choveu Terra" held at the Almada Municipal Gallery.