We interview visual artist, heritage restorer, and educator Karla Betancourt Rodríguez for our Atelier Unraveled: Q+A on her art practice. Based out of Cuba, Betancourt Rodríguez’ work encompasses a holistic approach taking influences from geography, cultures from around the world, fashion, and art. Examining the role of environmentalism and culture through textiles and jewelry, Betancourt Rodríguez continues to develop her art practice around the coexisting relationship between viewers and nature.
Tell us what led you into the art sector and what mediums you like to work with.
KBR — It is difficult for me to describe my artistic path since I have put a lot of effort into it. As a child, I enjoyed sketching and painting all the time. It took me hours every day to work on A4 paper. To be honest, I drew everywhere, everytime even on the mirror while having a shower. The reason for this was that I wanted to bring everything in my imagination to life since the feeling of accomplishment is so satisfying. I really enjoyed that moment. Months turned into years and I recognized how much I rely on giving everyone my experiences and my ego through art in general. After graduating from high school, I studied graphic design for nearly three years before realizing it wasn't for me because design is far more problem-solving than visual storytelling. Then I decided to study digital drawing and painting over the Internet. When I began researching illustration, I was shocked by the diversity of jobs available. You can work in editorial if you enjoy working in the publishing industry, or you can stick to advertising if you enjoy communicating with many people. Back to the present, I have been a freelance illustrator for about four years, and I have never regretted following my dream or my passion.
What concepts make up your art practice?
KBR — First of all, I must say that my educational background is varied. For more than 10 years I have been working as a heritage restorer and as a scientific researcher applied to this field. Also, in parallel to my artistic work, I have dedicated myself to design and making necklaces and jewelry. So my visual purpose is very permeated by the knowledge that comes from the world of science and the ways of making, the materials and solutions that I use comes from being a jewelry maker. And if I had to describe my practice, I would express it in two aspects: one referring to the relationship between man and nature, and another between man and culture, the latter being an expression of that first relationship.
You like to blend a number of cultures into your work, including African, Spanish, and Latin American cultures through textiles, color, and textures. How do you go about researching and blending each one into your work?
KBR — I think one of the strengths of my work is the holistic approach it presents. My way of expressing myself and approaching the phenomenon of art is from various perspectives due to the various ways I use my creativity and because my reality is multicultural. So in that theme that I mentioned, where I propose a dialogue between man and culture, I have created artworks such as El Gran Chal (The Great Shawl), where I refer to Cuban culture from a transcultural point of view. There I mix the three main components that make up my cultural heritage, which are my Spanish, African and Latin American ancestry.
This art piece consists of making a Spanish shawl, characteristic of gypsy and flamenco women, woven on an artisanal loom but with glass and ceramic beads, which are used today to make religious bracelets and necklaces used in Afro-Cuban religious practices. I try to create a parallel idea between this textile garment, which serves to cover and protect the woman's body, with the idea of protection that the African bracelet provides. The triangular shape of the shawl is combined with the colours and motifs representing various Yoruba saints in a textile that is heavy and hard, yet flexible and adaptable to the shape of the body.
You also work as a heritage restorer, how has that impacted your art practice?
KBR — I find the creativity that exists in science to be absolutely astonishing and for me it is a constant source of motivation and inspiration. Through restoration, which is a discipline that not only uses manual skills but also the knowledge of many sciences, I have managed to understand several of the processes and rules that govern the nature and therefore the physical world we inhabit. I think that the Sacred Geometry series expresses very well my cosmogony regarding nature and the scientific method, because the way of constructing these artworks tries to emulate these processes of formation of matter. In them I build textiles with glass beads using only repeated triangles, in the same way that chemistry organizes matter using simple elements multiplied through geometric patterns, thus creating more complex structures from few elements. In addition, there is a correlation between the material and this form, because the way that silicon molecules, which is one of the main components of glass, really organize themselves is precisely through triangles.
When studying your art practice, a theme of geometry and geography are prevalent. What is the common thread between the two?
KBR — The language that always prevails in my work is poetry inspired by science through forms and concepts. In the case of the work City Island, co-authored with Cuban artist Anyelmaidelin Calzadilla, the fabrics create structures that simulate islands, emulating the functioning of mathematical software that uses triangulation to build 3D objects. The form then alludes to territoriality and social concepts attributed to geography. Territorial boundaries are nothing more than constructs, but ultimately quantifiable in extension and with their own economic characteristics.
La Isla al Cuello (The Island Around the Neck), co-authored with Anyelmaidelin Calzadilla (IG: @anyelmcalzadillafernandez
City Island, co-authored with Anyelmaidelin Calzadilla (IG: @anyelmcalzadillafernandez
KBR — Well, this topic is increasingly present on the discussion tables nowadays. I think it's great that creators are aware of the use of materials when constructing an artwork. This is an issue that concerns me as an artist and also as a restorer. It is also true that this choice depends on the economic possibilities of the creator and the creative discourse of the artwork, but I think that as much as possible we should choose work processes that include recycling and/or waste reduction.
Particularly the textile aspect of my practice is far from the use of utilizing natural fibers, so I approach the ecological issue from another perspective: their durability is so long that they practically cannot be considered waste. They are a kind of hard textiles, where the important thing is not the fiber that will decompose and become part of the ecological cycle again, but hard, glass-like fabrics that want to be perishable over time while they are recreated in space.
I build a kind of network that, in addition to reflecting the scientific nature of my vision of the natural, discusses the protection of nature, as they are built with the waste materials that most affect natural life and especially marine life: glass and plastic.
This past year, we have come across a number of artists who are more environmentally conscious of what materials they use and how they create their work. What are ways you are artistically decreasing your carbon footprint?
We have an ongoing question here at Threads: The Art Exchange - how do you define art?
KBR — I think that art is closely related to expression, to the personal needs of the artist to communicate his vision of reality. Communication that occurs through the aesthetic and the subjective. It is a game of seduction, a set of ideas that we put into the "artistic object" expressed in the most varied and democratic way as possible. And this is always an action that invites the viewer to look for common points with his own reality to connect with your ideas.
How do you envision your art practice evolving?
KBR — This is always a very difficult question to answer, I can only raise my greatest wishes for the future. But my intention is always to make my work more and more mature, where I can be very conscious of my creative exercise and at the same time intuitive and pleasurable. But for me, it is very important to be consistent with myself — with my way of being and thinking. And this is the key to authenticity; because my works can formally resemble those of other artists, and they certainly do, but I always want it to be a true reflection of my being and my motivations.*
*Please note the Spanish translation of the last sentence omits the period; this is the conclusion of the interview.
Images courtesy of the artist.