As part of the 24th Biennale of Sydney opening weekend Peruvian born and Netherlands based artist Cristina Flores Pescorán will give a performance responding to her work in the exhibition. Building on the intricate thread-work and weaving in her textiles, the performance will see Flores Pescorán work with yarn and needles, whilst reciting her original poetry titled El tiempo según Emilia (Time according to Emilia), expounding on her work’s themes of invasive medical intervention; women’s bodily autonomy; and environmental degradation.
Biography
Cristina Flores Pescorán is a multi-disciplinary artist from Perú. Her work is a dialogue between her body, healing processes, medical experiences, family memories, and feminism. Reflecting on her own experience of sickness, treatment, and recovery, Flores Pescorán employs a wide range of mediums in conversation with pre-Hispanic weaving and dyeing techniques using medicinal plants that are part of her daily diet. She incorporates hand-made gauzes inspired the Chancay culture (a pre-Inca civilisation developed between 1200AD and 1470AD), whose reticulated veils are believed to have had magical powers used for healing and protection. Through her practice, Flores Pescorán reflects and challenges what we understand as illness, death, cure, nutrition, pleasure, and magic in our contemporary society.
