Laura LimaTutu, 2023
Laura Lima’s practice is grounded in Brazilian cosmologies, natural processes, and the transformative potential of materials. Over the past two decades, she has developed a body of work that moves fluidly between installation, film, textiles, and performative gestures, combining philosophical inquiry with tactile experimentation. Her works often evolve over time, allowing for discolouration, decay, and disintegration to play an active role in shaping meaning and form.
Porosity and tension are central to Lima’s sculptural environments. Woven structures with deliberate gaps invite viewers to move through and around the work, encouraging shifts in perspective and engaging the body in the act of looking. In this way, Lima disrupts passive viewing and fosters a more embodied and perceptual encounter with the artwork.
Tutu draws on the folkloric figure of Tutu Marambá, a fearsome creature used to frighten children, whose story blends European origins with African linguistic influence. The name Tutu is derived from quitutu, an Angolan word meaning "ogre." Described in some versions as quarrelsome and covered in fur, and in others as a being with no fixed form, the creature embodies uncertainty and transformation. Lima translates this myth into a sculptural form composed of raw cotton threads dyed with natural pigments such as indigo, red cabbage, black beans, turmeric, and hibiscus, combined with steel wire. The resulting work suggests a shifting presence, where material and myth are held in a state of quiet tension, open to movement, change, and interpretation.
