Maria Thereza Alves

Maria Thereza Alves’ artistic trajectory is inseparable from her political activism, whether it be in favour of ecology, the rights of indigenous minorities or territorial and decolonising struggles.

Maria Thereza Alves does not favour any particular medium, although her work often takes the form of prolific installations mixing natural and manufactured objects, videos, texts, drawings and photographs. These installations, like real investigations, reconstruct the artist’s explorations and actions on a given territory.

In the same way, her field of research and commitment is free of geographical boundaries, whether she invests in the urban environment (New York, Manchester) or natural spaces. The Seeds of Change project, begun in 1999, this time articulates the issues of colonization, slavery and ecology. Seeds brought back to Europe by merchant ships are exhumed and then replanted in the heart of large western cities on floating platforms. The circulation of beings, whether human or plants, allows Alves to draw up a paradoxical history of globalization, between uprooting, abandonment and resistance.