Bel Falleiros: To Ripple with Water at The Border Gallery

Curated by Jamie Martinez

May 22nd to June 12th, 2021

The Border Gallery is pleased to present To Ripple with Water, a contemplative and immersive installation by the Brazilian artist Bel Falleiros curated by Jamie Martinez. 

Falleiros’ terracotta, double-conical sculpture is circled by a curtain of cascading ceramic beads and a light that illuminates a water vessel at its center. Atop the grounding structure, the basin-vessel holds water that has been collected from the Hudson Valley springs where the artist resides. Water is present not only in the physical form – as a reflective mirror — but also in the audio that resonates within the space. 

The ambient melody, which includes the trickle of water accompanied by the artist’s breathing and lullaby-like chants, resembles a mantra and creates a vibratory atmosphere. The sounds signify the “relationship between the body and place,” re-establishing the connection between the self and the land we all inhabit. It provokes us to ask, what remains when we slow down and listen?  Taken together, the work invites us to ground, to make space for silence, to recall what’s left in the dark. 

Falleiros incorporates all four elements in the installation: water, fire (the firing of the terracotta), air (the audio) and the earth (both the clay and the wood chips scattered on the ground, which were also obtained from the land where the artist resides). Not only does she enmesh these components in a transient collage, her extensive knowledge of land, identity and autonomous thinking transform the work as a whole into a ruminative and meditative space.

Bel Falleiros is a Brazilian artist whose practice focuses on how contemporary constructed landscapes (mis)represent the diverse layers of presence that constitute a place. Walking is core to her practice and fundamental to her first solo show at CAIXA Cultural São Paulo, as well as to her residency at the Sacatar Institute in Bahia, Brazil (2014). Since arriving in the U.S., she has worked to create spaces for grounding and connecting people, including a site-specific installation at Pecos National Park, New Mexico (2016), an earth-work at Burnside Farm, Detroit (2017), sculptures for the garden of Tewa Women United, during the SFAI Equal Justice Residency (2018), and a brick (un) monument at Socrates Sculpture Park (2020). Beyond her studio practice, she participates in collaborative projects across the Americas connecting art, education and autonomous thinking. She is currently a More Art Engaging Artist Fellow in New York and a teaching artist at Dia:Beacon.