Now 72, the Afro-Brazilian sculptor fills her studio space with secondhand fabrics that hang on mounted wire screens: tablecloths, handkerchiefs, scarves, scraps of garments, and even a wedding gown, all gifted to the artist by people who have been moved by her work.
“They arrive and then I listen to them,” she said, via email, about the gifts. “There is a process of observing and feeling what each item is offering as an element of composition. This process of listening to the material tells me where it wants to go and what it wants to be. For me, it is an intimate process with the matter of things; I feel the volume, texture, weight, color.”