The other day Mike and I visited the nearby Cuidad de la Costa Cultural Centre (behind the north side of the shopping centre) to see a fibreart exhibition I’d been reading about – “Dark Green” by Cristina Llambi. (Gallery information below)

It was exciting to see how the artist has used paint and stitch in many ways to express her passionate concern about the threats to the world we live in, where Nature is impacted by extreme climate events and the spread of human activity, straining the relationship between our environment and all the the living things within it. Her message is that we need to find new ways of restoring the balance between human activity and all the other living things sharing our home on Planet Earth.

Llambi’s statements about this strained relationship are presented in fabric and thread on landscape paintings, and also in small sculptures featuring objects gathered in nature – namely small rocks and branches.

Several of her exciting works are painted canvases, of shapes and lines unmistakably suggesting landscapes populated by forms suggesting plants, their foliage and flowers. These are not of particular scenes or actual gardens, rather they are a slighly fantastical gardeny-foresty kind of background into which she has then stitched directly into…

… or glued on patches of fabric including painted recycled curtains, lace edgings or household linens featuring stitched elements, adding hand drawn patches of tiny marks of detailed patterns and textures.

Each work feels to be a celebration of the diversity of life within a landscape, and each is a case of the more you look the more you see. To stitch directly onto a decent sized canvas could be difficult without her method of stitching onto some fabric, cutting that piece out and gluing or stitching to the canvas, and this really opened my eyes – I might consider this for some of my digital prints some time…

Other objects on show included applied patches of fibre constructions and stitchery displayed on torn strips of heavy brown and other kinds of paper displayed hanging from tree branches on torn strips of heavy brown and other kinds of paper, and some of these swayed as people nearby moved, suggesting living things. Other small lichen-like tiny elements were displayed attached to smooth river rocks.

Another table top collection was of several really delicate little stitcheries displayed in glass petrie dishes. Llambi’s statement mentions cyanobacteria, but these little pieces spoke to me of the importance of all the scientific study of algae, bacteria and other tiny life forms in furthering the knowledge, understanding and improvement of our environment.

If you live in Montevideo Uruguay, this exhibition is open M-F, 11am-3.30pm, in the new Canelones Cultural Space (behind the north side of the Cuidad de la Costa shopping) For further information phone 26821882 ext. 247