Cristel Silva

In her work, Cristel Silva conceives of the inhabited territory as a set of historical layers that shape and normalize the systems of power within societies. More specifically, she is interested in the presence of nature in the city as a means of segmenting oppressive structures such as colonialism and capitalism. Her works reflect personal experiences lived in the unoccupied spaces found in the unceded Mohawk territory of Tiohtià: ke (Montreal). These abandoned spaces favor an ecosystem hosting a native nature that experiences constant changes; they represent nothingness within the flow of cities, the state of inaction in the face of a productivist society. Using scientific-type surveys that are part of a methodical approach (exploration of the land, taking samples, researching archives, collecting images and found objects, etc.) the artist generates a formal analysis of the biodiversity found in these places. Cristel Silva uses these observations as the basis for a multidisciplinary plastic approach that includes the mediums of textiles, photography and printing techniques; it thus establishes a succession between images visually reminiscent of scientific illustration and self-referential symbolic landmarks.