Bienal de Pontevedra

In Wardha Shabbir's work, the natural and the humane cannot be understood separately. Everything is connected. In the piece created for the 32nd Pontevedra Biennial, Shabbir returns to the garden, to the gesture of caring, of observing, of cultivating. But this time she does so by asking herself how to carry on in an increasingly inhospitable environment: how to withstand the deterioration of the world we live in? The work originates from her experience as a mother in Lahore, a city where pollution and environmental crisis are always present. Based on her concerns, the artist imagines a transformed female body, inspired by plants and the sun; a body that is not a victim, but rather maintains its capacity to give life even in harsh conditions. The sun, a central element in the sculpture, speaks of strength, creation, renewal. And the red colour reminds us of blood, of the history of struggle of so many women. The artist invites us to rethink the intersections between ecology, feminism and human experience, and suggests a story in which the ability to adapt becomes a revolutionary act. In this way, the sculpture stands as a hopeful vision of the future, where life not only survives, but finds new ways to flourish.