Bárbara Sánchez BARROSO & Adriana Vila GUEVARA

Bárbara Sánchez Barroso, b.1987, Spain & Adriana Vila Guevara, b.1981, Venezuela

Bárbara Sánchez Barroso is a videographer with a background in fine arts, visual communication, and literature. Her works practice different strategies employed: from photography, ethnographic documentary to essay films. She considers herself an explorer of stories, searching for ways of connecting with the other, and exploring that otherness – human and non-human – with the camera. Adriana Vila Guevara a filmmaker and anthropologist. Her film works move in the realms of documentaries and experimental film. She’s the co-founder of the independent analog film lab Crater-Lab, and curates eco-friendly artist residencies at Semilla-lab.

The Knots We Knot is a collaborative participatory project created by the artists. The exhibition features a digital version shot on 16mm film piece, which is the result of research carried out during a residence in the Vall de Santa Creu, exploring “an encounter that thinks carefully.” The artist connects participants with ropes and guides them to walk in silence through a forest with half-meter intervals. Through reading, gazing, and attentive listening during the participants’ journey, the artwork embodies a sense of symbiosis and a particular moment. The softly spoken words within the piece are drawn from texts by feminist scholar Donna Haraway, forest biologist Professor Robin Wall Kimmerer, and others, intricately depicting profound reflections on the coexistence of humans and the environment. This piece also encapsulates the mutual empathy and experiential bond forged between the artist and the participants. (J.W)