H
ow can the seemingly simple act of interacting with the landscape transform the way we understand and think about our surroundings? In this subtle space where art and nature coexist, Mallorca-based artist Ela Spalding invites us to relook at and to reconsider the layered ground upon which we live our everyday lives. “We are disconnected from our surroundings and we need to find ways to relate to it,” the artist explains. Spalding’s work acts like a bridge between art, nature, science and community - using various tools and platforms, from artist’s books to sound installations, as guides to expand our awareness.
In the last decades, the relationship between art and nature has been explored mainly through the lens of the Land Art Movement, from the late 1960s, that was grounded in bold statements such as Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty, on the salt beds of Utah, or Richard Long’s A Line Made by Walking. These were wildly new actions that engaged directly with nature, exploring ideas of site, the environment and geology, but they were also more about the artist’s mark imposed on nature, or the use of nature to make a work of art for documentation. Spalding’s approach offers a new investigation into the art-nature relationship, one more attuned to 21st century concerns and realities. She explores the landscape through artistic gestures that are more about listening to the land and changing yourself than changing the landscape to express your ideas. Through projects such as Suelo (Soil) or Ocaso (Sundown), Spalding merges science, art and nature as a way to acknowledge place and encourage a shift in patterns and ways of thinking about the environment and the landscape. Born in Panama, Spalding studied cinema and photography and minored in dance. She thought about going into theatre but then moved more towards photography and art. These experiences come to play in her multidisciplinary, community-based practice that spans writing, performance, photography, sound, and a podcast, among other things.
In 2012, she founded Estudio Nuboso, an art and ecology platform in Panama that that for over a decade functioned as “a collective of artists, designers, educators and researchers designing and facilitating space and time for encounters between people, nature, science, culture and diverse communities.” With Estudio Nuboso, she co-created residencies and workshops, collaborating with conservation, scientific and cultural organizations such as the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the Green Art Lab Alliance."
