nora evita aresti

Biography
Nora Evita Aresti is a practicing artist currently residing in NYC. She discovered her love of photography while studying at William Paterson University where she received her BFA. She began to explore the woods surrounding her school and take pictures of herself in front of mirrors she found left behind. Aresti uses the theme of nature in her work alluding to transformation, adaptation, and the art of evolving. She is a multi-disciplinary conceptual artist that has art works in media such as paintings, drawings, photography, self-portraiture, instillation art, performance art, ceramics, and sculpture. Currently, she works with photography and paint. After a 2016 accident, she found herself struggling with chronic pain. Problems with her back and hands left her unable to complete everyday tasks and this jeopardized her artistry, but her profound love for the outdoors, and life brought her comfort and renewed vision. 

I developed this weaving technique by binding trees and branches or sentimental items and symbolic objects together in my conceptual art to mimic woven bone and threads of nerves like that of our spine. It was my way of taking something broken and lost and reconnecting it with the missing pieces and memories. The human body is so complex and nuanced that when one thing goes wrong, it creates a ripple effect in our whole being. This is what I discovered after an accident left me with all sorts of debilitating pain. Years of physical therapy did wonders but flare-ups would occur often with no explanation or root cause. I have newfound appreciation for the bundle of fibers that make up each nerve and the various webs they form to work like a network to keep us moving (motor nerves) and feeling (sensory nerves). I then made the connection in my mind between what I can still do to create art.

So I went back to what I started in the woods. Nature grounds me. There, I can bring my chaos and it will always remind me there is still hope and tranquility. It reminds me of a time where I felt no pain and that time will come again. My work is inspired by Ana Mendieta's archetypal "Earth Body" and Janine Antoni's sculptural and performance art. The captures in the woods make me the student again as nature teaches me to be more patient with whatever pains me because the rebirth is always coming and I am always evolving as a person and as an artist.