Tatiana Arocha

Tatiana grew up in Colombia, where she often traveled to the rainforests and witnessed lands and ways of life that have been caught in the middle of the eco/genocidal forces of both the drug trade and the U.S. war on drugs. The dizzying biodiversity of the Colombian jungle, the complex social and economic histories that have threatened its existence since the arrival of the colonizers, were indelibly etched in his psyche. She began to learn about the land and the complexities, her artistic work emerged from that knowledge. Her field work is a process of communion with the plants that includes: drawing, rubbing, photographing, preserving and tracing the bark, seeds and leaves of the forest. Over time, she has created an index of forms and textures, a new and personal visual lexicon. These experiences are enriched by her conversations with indigenous people who possess ancestral and contemporary knowledge of the local ecology. As a witness to her relationships with the land and her more-than-human kin, she sees her cultivation of the forests as a process of learning and creating ecosystemic, social and spiritual relationships between generations and species. Her work is part of the collection of the Langone Art Program at New York University, as well as private collections collections such as David Rosenberg, Robyn Cuttler Janetin New York (USA), and David Offensend in Boston, MA, USA.