{"id":9595,"date":"2020-10-21T05:44:00","date_gmt":"2020-10-21T09:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artthescience.com\/magazine\/?p=9595"},"modified":"2022-02-09T08:26:11","modified_gmt":"2022-02-09T13:26:11","slug":"features-vanessa-barragaos-sustainable-seascapes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artthescience.com\/magazine\/2020\/10\/21\/features-vanessa-barragaos-sustainable-seascapes\/","title":{"rendered":"FEATURES – Vanessa Barrag\u00e3o’s Sustainable Seascapes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Portuguese fibre artist Vanessa Barrag\u00e3o<\/a> creates stunning underwater seascape tapestries that carry a message about the environment. Armed with latch and crochet hooks, discarded yarn scraps, and visions of the sea, she handmakes immense pieces that often center around coral reefs. Now, her environmental artwork has stolen the spotlight around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We last spoke<\/a> with Barrag\u00e3o in early 2019. Since then, she has been busy crafting more tapestries and moving her studio to her hometown, the root of her artistic and environmental passions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Multiple
Coral Garden<\/em> by Vanessa Barrag\u00e3o, Domotex 2019 installation. Photo credit: Studio Vanessa Barrag\u00e3o. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Close-up
Coral Garden<\/em> by Vanessa Barrag\u00e3o, Domotex 2019 installation. Photo credit: Studio Vanessa Barrag\u00e3o.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Close-up
Coral Garden<\/em> by Vanessa Barrag\u00e3o, Domotex 2019 installation. Photo credit: Studio Vanessa Barrag\u00e3o.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Barrag\u00e3o\u2019s love of fibre art was passed down to her at a young age. \u201cI started learning this with my grandmothers when I was a kid,\u201d she recalls. \u201cThey taught me how to crochet, and this was the first technique I learned.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her fascination with the sea also began in childhood. Growing up in the coastal city of Albufeira, Portugal, she spent much of her time splashing in the water and playing on the sandy shore. Barrag\u00e3o also remembers traveling with her parents to the Caribbean Sea, where she first encountered coral reefs. She was struck by their impressive beauty. However, on subsequent trips back, she noticed the reefs\u2019 declining colour and biodiversity. Those memories of the sea and the fragile life it supports lingered in her mind. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her passions for both art and the sea traveled with her to university, where she studied fashion design and crafted clothing collections inspired by the water. There, she also learned more techniques to make her own textiles and clothes. However, early in her career, she grasped the unsustainable nature of the textile industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Close-up
Living Coral<\/em> by Vanessa Barrag\u00e3o, Onefifteen exhibition. Photo credit: onefifteen\u521d\u8863\u98df\u5348.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Large,
Living Coral<\/em> by Vanessa Barrag\u00e3o, Onefifteen exhibition. Photo credit: onefifteen\u521d\u8863\u98df\u5348.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Vanessa
Living Coral<\/em> by Vanessa Barrag\u00e3o, Onefifteen exhibition. Photo credit: onefifteen\u521d\u8863\u98df\u5348. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I started this project, I was working at a rug factory, and I realized how much trash they create,\u201d Barrag\u00e3o says. \u201cI decided to start using [the trash] because I saw how many things that were good. Good yarns were going to the garbage.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, she has connections with several factories that give her leftover yarn and deadstock materials. \u201cThey are happy, and I am happy as well,\u201d she says, explaining the mutually beneficial arrangement.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With her works, Barrag\u00e3o hopes to raise awareness about pollution and climate change, which she describes as \u201ca big killer of the sea.\u201d She uses ancestral textile practices, including latch hook, crochet, hand-tuft, embroidery, weaving, and macram\u00e9, to create her works, which usually feature coral reefs and related habitats and lifeforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barrag\u00e3o says that many people who view her work have never seen coral reefs and have little understanding of undersea environments. \u201cMany times, people don\u2019t understand why [the corals] are white in the pieces. They just think because it\u2019s nice or because it fits better in their houses. But no, there is a message,\u201d she explains. The beautiful white corals portrayed in Barrag\u00e3o\u2019s tapestries represent bleached corals that died from polluted and rapidly warming waters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Hanging
Bleached Coral<\/em> by Vanessa Barrag\u00e3o. Photo credit: Studio Vanessa Barrag\u00e3o.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Close-up
Bleached Coral<\/em> by Vanessa Barrag\u00e3o. Photo credit: Studio Vanessa Barrag\u00e3o.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By using art to present how human actions harm coral reefs, fish, plants, and other species, she hopes to change how people think about the environment and, ultimately, their behaviours. \u201cArt is a good way to show [the effects] and to\u2026make people think about these kinds of things and change their habits,\u201d says Barrag\u00e3o.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the past year, she has created numerous new tapestries. Her favourite is the Botanical Tapestry<\/em>, which is her largest recent work and took five months to complete. This piece, which represents a world map and features threatened plant species and corals, is now prominently displayed in London, England\u2019s Heathrow Airport. Other highlights include her works being featured at Onefifteen<\/a> in Taiwan, the Domotex<\/a> trade fair in Germany, and the Super Bowl in the United States.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
Botanical Tapestry<\/em> by Vanessa Barrag\u00e3o, Kew Gardens and Heathrow Airport partnership celebration. Photo credit: Kew Gardens and Heathrow Airport. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Close-up
Botanical Tapestry<\/em> by Vanessa Barrag\u00e3o, Kew Gardens and Heathrow Airport partnership celebration. Photo credit: Kew Gardens and Heathrow Airport.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One of this year\u2019s biggest changes for Barrag\u00e3o was moving back to her hometown of Albufeira. \u201cHere, I have more quality of life,\u201d she says. \u201cEverything is better here. The [studio] space is better [than where I was]. It\u2019s really close to the sea.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another benefit is that her family resides in the town. Many of her family members, including her sister, mother, aunt, and grandparents, are part of her studio and help with management and production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy grandmothers are the ones who are creating the crochet that I apply on my pieces,\u201d Barrag\u00e3o explains. \u201cThey are the ones who introduced me to the handmade techniques, so I think it\u2019s great. They are very happy to be helping me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Vanessa
Life Flow Coral<\/em> by Vanessa Barrag\u00e3o, Dyeing House Gallery art residency. Photo credit: Agnese Morganti.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Close-up
Life Flow Coral <\/em>by Vanessa Barrag\u00e3o, Dyeing House Gallery art residency. Photo credit: Agnese Morganti.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Vanessa
Life Flow Coral<\/em> by Vanessa Barrag\u00e3o, Dyeing House Gallery art residency. Photo credit: Agnese Morganti.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Overall, Barrag\u00e3o\u2019s artwork reflects her values of family, sustainability, and creativity. She takes great care in explaining her how her eco-friendly handmade techniques and use of recycled materials benefit both the environment and her artistic practice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSometimes we don\u2019t need to have money to create something because we have everything around us. We just need to be creative.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more by Vanessa Barrag\u00e3o, visit her <\/i>website<\/em><\/a>, Instagram<\/a>, or Facebook<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Portuguese fibre artist Vanessa Barrag\u00e3o creates stunning underwater seascape tapestries that carry a message about the environment. Armed with latch and crochet hooks, discarded yarn …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":9619,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1,36],"tags":[559,96,565,482,158,407],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artthescience.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9595"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artthescience.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artthescience.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artthescience.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artthescience.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9595"}],"version-history":[{"count":38,"href":"https:\/\/artthescience.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9595\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11948,"href":"https:\/\/artthescience.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9595\/revisions\/11948"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artthescience.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artthescience.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artthescience.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artthescience.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}