Description of the work

Is There No Way Out pays homage to Ana Mendieta and spotlights the raw and vulnerable states in which humans perpetually find themselves. It begs to be free from the trappings of chronic pain yet finding beauty while caught in the web of it. With the help of the talented professional photographer Katelyn Kopenhaver, this work ties together the freedom of nature and artistic expression.

Is There No Way Out?

Performance art: Nora Evita Aresti

Photography: Katelyn Kopenhaver

Artist Statement

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.