The forest passed through me and continues to do so. Going to the forest is like going to a romantic encounter. The enchantment of the magnetic unknown. The forest is an abyss that summons you. You desire it. It calls to you. There are layers upon layers of enchantment. There are layers upon layers of not knowing. No one knows the forest. It embraces you because it is untamable. The forest is the freedom to be. The forest is vastness. It is the inhabited void. It is a romantic encounter with oneself and with the other; it is a place where there is no dominator and dominated. There is no abuse of power in the forest. There is no hierarchy in the forest. Life and death are life and death in their raw state. Everything that is, is part of the whole. Everything that ceases to be, is part of the whole. It is the great belonging of the world, whether a seed, a microorganism, a century-old tree, or a jaguar. Everything is part of the whole. It is everything and can be nothing in the next moment, yet it remains part of the whole. Being in the forest is understanding, through the body, that there is no outside. The forest is the great circular inside. Everything fits. Everything belongs. Everything can exist. It is incorporated into life. The forest is wild and generous at the same time. Like the body of a woman. The forest is feminine. The forest is home. In it, everything fits. It welcomes.
- The forest
- The earth
- The leaf
- The seed
- The tree
- The water
- The mountain
- The mud
- The rain
- The shell
- The plant
- The root
- The fruit
- The stone
In 2017, I experienced, for the first time, an immersion in the Amazon Rainforest through the LABVERDE residency. It was a profound crossing, one with no return. It marked a significant life change—a shift in my relationship with myself, with others, in my work, and in my perception of the surroundings. The experience in the forest was one of integration, of seeing myself inside, as part of a much larger whole where everything that lives there is incorporated. The circle became an essential part of my drawings. The landscape became circular after feeling my body crossed by the forest and becoming a part of it. The circle as a form that integrates, as a form of origin and birth, as a symbol of cyclical time.
The relationship with the landscape through drawing is a central element in my work. In the beginning, my works were more representative of the landscape. Over the years, the elements of the landscape themselves became the material of the work, such as earth, water, leaves, flowers, and seeds. In the forest, I had my first experiences with paints made from earth, which were incorporated and remain fundamental to my practice to this day.
From a more distanced relationship with the landscape, the drawings began to reflect a more internal perspective, incorporating real elements and emerging from immersive experiences that made the body itself a part of the work.
Having lived my entire life in the city of São Paulo, but always feeling nature as an extension of home, as a place of belonging and connection, it is common for my works to incorporate elements of nature as a personal need to find possibilities for pause, silence, and a deeper internal listening through the relationship with nature. This understanding has led me, in recent years, to pursue various artist residencies, recognizing the importance of displacement, of stepping out of familiar places, but also for the opportunity to experience a different time-space relationship in places where the presence of nature is stronger and more intense than in urban environments. In recent years, I have participated in residencies on the coast of Oaxaca, Mexico; in Terra Una, in the Mantiqueira Mountains, Brazil; on Itaparica Island and in Chapada Diamantina, Bahia, Brazil; and in the Amazon Rainforest, Brazil.
Walks are also important moments for me. I developed a love for walking as a child with my father; it was one of the things he enjoyed most in life. Walking is a way of experiencing the landscape in the rhythm of each step—observing, contemplating, and living in a particular time that often serves as a portal to understanding the next step in my work. During these walks, I collect fragments of the landscape that create bridges to what will emerge in the studio.
The collected items are organized like a catalog of various types of plants, which I dehydrate, classify, and incorporate into my work, along with different shades of earth that are transformed into paints.
When my daughter, Flora, was born, I didn’t have time to go to the studio. I was fully dedicated to caring for her and embracing motherhood. During stroller walks (the walks of that time), I would collect seasonal leaves and flowers that had fallen along the way, ensuring that my studio practice remained alive and infused with new experiences. From these walks, the “Flora” series was born, in which I depict my pregnant body made from earth, from which plants and flowers sprout.
The body has been incorporated into the work, the work into life, and all these connections between them are living material for what is yet to come.
Laura has participated in various national and international exhibitions and artist residencies, including Mirante Xique-Xique in Igatu, Chapada Diamantina, Brazil (2022); Sacatar, Itaparica, Bahia, Brazil (2020); Casa Wabi, Mexico (2019); Terra UNA, Serra da Mantiqueira, Brazil (2018); LABVERDE, Amazon Rainforest, Brazil (2017); ZKU, Berlin, Germany (2013), where she lived for a year; and Fundação Bienal de Cerveira (2012) in Portugal, where she was part of the 17th Cerveira Biennial. Gorski is an art teacher at Escola Vera Cruz in São Paulo. She worked in the coordination of the Educational Program at Instituto Tomie Ohtake, was part of the coordination team for the studios at the 29th São Paulo International Biennial, and worked with the OSCIP Comunidade Educativa CEDAC, training teachers in various regions of Brazil, such as Maranhão, Espírito Santo, Pará, and Minas Gerais.
You can find out more about Laura at @laurabgorski // lauragorski.com
Photos in studio: Anita Goes // Photos in residency: Courtesy of the artist.
