19/02/2026
Today I had the privilege of visiting artist Monica Carvalho studio in Rio de Janeiro, which is like entering a living archive of Brazil’s ecological memory.
Carvalho’s practice is rooted in material intelligence. She works with seeds, fibers, pods, and botanical elements, transforming them into sculptural objects that exist at the intersection of art, craft, and ethnobotanical knowledge.
Central to her work is a rigorous and respectful method of collection. Her practice is also shaped by dialogue with Indigenous, quilombola, and riverine communities. The techniques she employs: binding, weaving, assembling are informed by ancestral knowledge that understand making as a form of reciprocity with the land.
In the studio, one becomes acutely aware of texture, the matte tactility of dried seeds, fibre and the geometry of organic form. In each piece there is respect for time.
We connected over a shared reverence for natural materials and their poetry. ✨