Many years ago, when living in Rio was nothing more than a dream, Susi Sielski Cantarino (an Argentine who is more "Carioca" than many born and raised in the city) discovered what she described as a "charming corner in Santa Teresa," then known as the Hotel dos Descasados. Four decades later, Sielski Cantarino returns to the space—now renovated and renamed Hotel Santa Teresa MGallery—not as a visitor, but as a guest artist. Her solo exhibition, "Connections," is open to the public through the end of September. Occupying the hotel lobby, the show stimulates and stirs the viewer's senses, and the pieces on display are available for purchase. Using diverse materials, including earth, bamboo, and even Swarovski crystals, the artist produces works ranging from leaves with transparent inscriptions to sculptures nearly two meters tall. Industrial steel shelves are transformed into objects of desire that honor the "Objet trouvé." Childhood linens, delicately worked with lace and pins, feature the face of the poet Virgínia Victorino, who, as a woman and a homosexual, was largely rejected by the hermetic Portuguese society of her time. All the works presented are the result of the artist's hundreds of experiences. SHALOSH (number 3 in Hebrew), for example, from 2008, was created three years after she won second prize at the Florence Biennale.
"The proposal is to rescue memories, translated into colors and forms using diverse techniques that converse with one another, despite their different contents. Which, like human beings in their diversity, grow stronger. Integrate. Evoke emotion. Transcend," she states.
