Susana Uribarri
Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Susana Uribarri has lived in Brazil for 40 years. From a very early age she was in contact with the world of fabrics under the influence of her mother, Mabel, who was a weaver of high plain looms.
Her research into fabric dye began in her teens and continues to this day. Going through the entire itinerary from ancestral techniques of Africa, such as Adiré (tie-dye), techniques from the Japanese School such as Shibori, Arashi and Itajime, block print and Ajrakh from the Anoki Museum in Jaipur, India, batik Tjap and Tulis from Java and Bali, in Indonésia and Japanesse Rooketsu-zome.
Her first contact with Batik took place in 1978, through the Argentine artist Ismael Rodrigues, from whom she received her first technical instructions.
In Brazil, she attended the studio of the artist Aldemir Martins, from whom she received instruction on colors and technical skills of acrylic painting on canvas.
The result of his technical research is a rather surprising set of works that reveal the historical process of dyeing and printing on fabrics from prehistory to the present day, with a contemporary fashion tendency.
From 1983 to 1988, she was a teacher at SENAC São Paulo, Francisco Matarazzo unit, where she had her first solo exhibition and taught the first Batik courses. Subsequently, she was a teacher at SENAC Fashion University, Lapa unit, where she taught courses in printing, color theory and artisanal dyeing processes between 2003 and 2007.
Between 1986 and 1995 she participated in the Art-Wear movement, introduced to Brazil by the Bahian artist and textile designer Liana Bloisi, which revolutionized the concept of dressing, clothing and fashion, questioning industrial standardization and the desire for differentiation of art, often in opposition, sometimes in complementation. She was the first artist to exhibit at the first wearable art gallery, Paradox Art, on Oscar Freire Street, owned by Liana Bloisi.
In 1991 she opened Susana Uribarri Atelier, located on Pamplona Street in São Paulo, becoming a reference among art, fashion and decoration professionals.
Her main solo exhibitions:
"The Thread in Time" 2009 IQ Gallery Chakras Cultural and Gastronomic Space, São Paulo
"The Power of Symbols, 2008, Livraria Arjuna, São Paulo.
"Os caminhos da Àgua", 2005, Livraria Spyro, São Paulo.
"Species" in 2001 at the Teatro Española de 25 de Mayo, Buenos Aires, Argentina
"Species" 1999 in her own Atelier São Paulo
"The Faces of the Earth", 1990, Paradox, Art. São Paulo.
"Memories of the Book of Magic" 1987 SESC Pompeia,
"Brazil, between the Past and Reality"
She has participated in numerous group exhibitions in Brazil, Argentina, Portugal and Denmark such as the traveling exhibition "Costume: an object of Art" in several capitals of Brazil, and ' A View of today's Brazilian Textile Art' at: the Rundertarn Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark, the National Costume Museum, Lisbon, Portugal, the Museum of Art of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre RS, and the Santa Catarina Museum of Art SC
From 2005 to 2007, she participated in the "Talents of Brazil" project, a program of the United Nations, Ministry of Agrarian Development and Sebrae in the training of former female sugarcane planters in the region of Salinas and Barrinha MG, for the design and development of authorial prints, color chart and manual dyeing processes for Ronaldo Fraga's collection.
She is a contributor to fashion, decoration and behavior editorials in the magazines Casa Claudia, Bons Fluidos, Vida Simples, Meditation, Make, and Planeta and has participated in many programs and been interviewed on several TV shows. She is a consultant for brands in the development of fashion collections and curator of authorial projects, art projects, exhibitions and collectives of cultural and social production.
Susana currently resides, and has her Atelier, in the rural area of Ibiúna SP, in the project "Spaço Susana Uribarri" where she teaches and works on the processes of creation, drawing and painting combined with introspective techniques of meditation where she teaches face-to-face courses and consultancies.
"The final result of the work is not what interests me the most, as it is just a visual reflection of what happened. What's truly remarkable is the experience of making, and what happens while we're doing it."