Seeing Plants

2 June — 26 June 2021

Curated by Georgia Hayward

Paula de la Rua Cordoba Seeing Plants I 2020. Porcelain and wood frame. 180cm x 110cm. Detail. Courtesy the artist. — Paula de la Rua Cordoba *Seeing Plants I* 2020. Porcelain and wood frame. 180cm x 110cm. Detail. Courtesy the artist.

Seeing Plants purpose is to decolonise and reclaim the power of nature as a response to British imperialist expansion. The past human relationship with the landscape has been contentious and often used as a political battleground to exert power and influence over people, land and nature through the cultural legacies of colonialism. To expand from standardised ways of thinking and making work in this context, this installation investigates the decolonisation and politicising of plants through the material thinking and handling of clay and collage. It explores and examines how fine art practice might approach and foreground the decolonisation and politicising of nature, analysing and responding to address the exploitation of land using colour, the power of multiples, scale, movement and joy, as nature seeks to reclaim the imperialist landscape. It seeks to convey an artistic style of expression that uses complex forms, bold ornamentation and the juxtaposition of contrasting elements often conveying a sense of drama, movement and tension. Seeing Plants highlights the subjugation of nature as a consequence of British imperialist expansion and reverses the politicising of plants as symbolic tools of oppression. This installation contributes to the ongoing discussion within this critical field of study and the associated practice of art framing this topic.

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As We Stand is a capsule exhibition curated by Georgia Hayward and installed in the Outer Space Window Gallery, showcasing six local early-career artists; Kyra Mancktelow, Paula de la Rua Cordoba, Dylan Mooney, Ruaa Al-Rikabi, Amy Sargeant and Lucy Nguyễn-Hunt who each use their practice to take a stand on current socio-cultural issues through prophesying courses of action. Responding to a diverse array of contemporary issues, the artists challenge cultural hegemony and socio-political dysfunctionality to establish and celebrate narratives of intersectionality, cultural expression, queer liberation and decolonisation.

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Paula de la Rua Cordoba
Paula de la Rua Cordoba was born in Argentina but grew up as a political refugee in Barcelona, Spain. Paula’s parents were very young and had an extensive political and cultural awareness that shaped her deeply while growing up. Barcelona was the perfect cosmopolitan place to grow, as Paula was interested from a very young age in arts, politics, poetry, philosophy and literature. The political background of Catalunya (Catalan) with the civil war and the Republican movement were the pillars of her interpretation of the world and the poet Miguel Hernandez was one of Paula’s most treasured inspirations in her life.

The unlimited access to international exhibitions of the masters, contemporary artists from around the world, the vast amount of festivals, European cinema and literature events provided Paula with an interest in the history of art that made her pursue the Bachelor’s degree. That further brought Paula to studies of Restoration of oil in canvas and the yearly preparation for the official school of restoration of Catalunya. She decided to follow her second passion, languages and became a teacher of Spanish as a second language. Paula can currently speak four languages. Paula moved in 2008 to Brisbane, Australia. She studied painting courses at the Brisbane Institute of Art and completed workshops with Marcel Desbiens for oil painting techniques while at the same time was volunteering at radio 4EB weekly, broadcasting a radio program called “Women’s Profile”. Through collaborations and engagement with the public, she started to understand the cultural life of Australia and its history. After gaining her third nationality (Australian), Paula studied a Diploma of Visual Arts (2016), a Bachelor of Visual Arts from the University of Canberra (2019) and completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) in 2020, achieving first class honours at the Griffith University Queensland College of Art. Paula’s personal practice took a radical change when she encountered clay and wood, sculpture and ceramics are her biggest passion with her artworks found in private collections in Australia, Spain, USA and Mexico.

www.designscordoba.com

Exhibition Text