The exuberant Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos, in her recent exhibition at the Phillips gallery in London (August 2015) has put on show a series of works in small format, similar to ex voto, ideal protagonist of votive chapels, the sacred Wunderkammer, frequent in Portuguese sanctuaries. From baroque frames, also in the form of a heart, gush tangles of trimmings, elaborate weavings of beads hang from the ceilings and crocheted trophies, punctuated with coloured pearls, decorate geometric compositions covered with coloured tiles. Once again Joana creates wonders, crocheting different-colour threads together. Her art form amazes people, despite adopting what is considered a humble woman’s craft, such as knitting and crochet. Her installations are not the result of heroic gestures but the result of the patient work of everyday women who collaborate with her in the weaving, day after day, of prodigies.
WHERE: Phillips Gallery, 30 Berkeley Square, London W1J 6EX, UK