Words by Lula Criado
Bárbara Cartier graduated from the IUNA (Instituto Universitario Nacional del Arte) in Visual Arts, and since then, she has been refining her aesthetic. The power, sensitivity and creativity of her work and how she links human and animal behaviour through it caught our attention. Her impressive imagination helps her audience to understand the relationship between humans, objects and animals.
Behaviour and domestication are the starting points of her work. She explores, on one hand, how human beings behave both as individuals and collectively, and how they can be domesticated in the way they feel, act or think. On the other hand, she investigates how animals can be domesticated through human links.
What do you see as the ultimate discovery in human history?
The ultimate discovery in human history…well, this is constantly happening. I most believe in science as a great power of human discovery.
Technology as well, but I think this is a result of science.
Do you find creativity where there was once insanity?
It is impossible to deny that insane minds have demonstrated to be big geniuses. Therefore, the line between intelligence and insanity is too thin. Creativity has to do with that line, which means being able to see different realities and solving the problem of a continuous search to explore and comprehend our existence.
If you would have to give up one of your five senses, which one would it be?
I would give up the sense of speech because I could still communicate through the other senses. I made this question to myself many times, and even the idea of losing the chance to see the world around me, the colours, and the power of nature, scares me to death. Neither give up listening to music nor touch; these are vital in my life and the way I was inspired. My memories are always linked to light and colours, sounds, scents, places…I barely recall the people’s voices.
Empathy and apathy… Would you be able to work with someone like yourself?
Apathy! If I had to work with another partner it should complement my own weaknesses.
How do you cope with creative desperation?
It feels like the weight and shadow of a massive stone oppressing me but is definitely part of the creative process. It has to do with the way you develop your ideas and turn them into a piece. The necessity of approaching your own ideas is somehow like a critical moment that follows to satisfaction and so on. This is how I see the process in creative work.
And one for the ride, when do you decide that enough is enough?
I just know when it is enough! It is hard to explain this, but in a certain way, while working, I follow the flow of what goes on in the piece, and I deal with the things that come up on the way. I am more open to new things arising during the process rather than sticking to a fixed plan. There is always a quest, and this is my reason to reorganise the plastic elements in the new space.
