Angela Saavedra
"Mundos Imaginarios"
This series of paintings unfolds as an open field of exploration, an intuitive dialogue between matter, pigment, texture and language. Through spontaneous gestures and material experimentation, the works become a process of self-projection: a way of seeing oneself through the transformation of the surface.
In each composition, forms and images emerge as if revealed from within the material itself, echoes of memory, traces of origin and the silent construction of belonging. The interplay between chaos and order, control and accident, gives shape to a visual language that is both deeply personal and universally resonant.
These paintings do not depict; they unveil. They invite viewers to witness the act of becoming, of identity, of landscape, of meaning, where the boundaries between the conscious and the intuitive dissolve into a single gesture of creation.
"Introspection"
The series Introspection is rendered through the simplicity of line, delicate yet assertive contours that give shape to feminine figures. For the artist, these minimal gestures embody honesty and vulnerability, serving as a sincere and direct form of expression. The clarity and purity of the line are often surrounded by external noise, dense, heavy and textured materials that evoke the weight of the outside world. This tension between simplicity and material intensity mirrors the contrast between inner
stillness and external chaos, between the intimate act of self-reflection and the overwhelming presence of societal noise.
As Angela reflects:
“From a very early age, I struggled to express myself or make my opinion known in contexts bound by respect for religious institutions or figures of authority. Sometimes, we are simply not in a place to make a difference or assert what we feel. Art for me, became a medium through which I could affirm my own value, speak with integrity and conviction and connect with moments of profound clarity.”
Art becomes both an act of resistance and revelation, an assertion of voice and presence within the silent landscape of the self.
On the Strength of Subtlety:
What if subtlety were not a sign of fragility, but something else entirely?
Perhaps delicacy could emerge from a place of awareness, an impulse to move gently through the world, to act without imposition, to listen before speaking.
In the space between sound and silence, there might exist a kind of strength that resists definition. The quiet gesture, the unspoken word, the restrained emotion, could these hold a weight that is often overlooked?
Humility, calm, and silence might not oppose power, but coexist with it in unexpected ways. Within moments of stillness, something essential seems to unfold, an intimacy with time, with presence, with the act of simply being.
Maybe the subtle does not seek to persuade, but to reveal.
Maybe strength can take the form of softness and love can reside in the quiet space between gestures.
"The Innocent Eye"
The Innocent Eye is a series of contemporary portrait paintings that reimagine the African figure as a vessel of both ancestral memory and modern dissonance.
Each portrait challenges conventional ideals of beauty and identity, reclaiming narratives that have long been filtered through colonial and globalized lenses.
Through the gaze of these subjects, poised yet questioning, we are invited to confront our collective estrangement from the natural world and the sacred rhythms that once defined human existence.
The artist draws upon the textures of ancestral traditions, merging them with abstract gestures and organic forms that speak to the earth’s pulse. The skin tones, patterns and symbols become topographies of belonging, maps of lineage, displacement and resilience. Yet, within this celebration of heritage lies a subtle critique: the tension between the spiritual harmony of traditional African cosmologies and the artificial, hyper-connected isolation of contemporary life.
In these portraits, beauty is no longer a surface to be consumed but a force of resistance, a dialogue between body and landscape, past and future, self and collective.
“The Innocent Eye" becomes a visual meditation on what it means to remember, to unlearn, and to re-root the human spirit in a world that has forgotten how to listen to nature’s voice.
"Structural Forms of the same psyche"
This series of paintings presents a meditative dialogue between opposing materials, natural pigment and synthetic metallic substance, brought together through the quiet presence of closed-eyed portraits.
Each face becomes a threshold between worlds: the inner and outer, the organic and the industrial, the conscious and the unconscious.
Through this interplay of matter, the works explore the interpretive framework of Jungian analyst Toni Wolff and her theories on feminine psychological structures.
The reflective silver surfaces evoke the external world, cold, constructed and mechanized, while the earthy pigments root the images in the primal and organic.
Their coexistence on the same plane mirrors the tension between the human psyche and the industrialized environment that surrounds it.
With their eyes closed, the subjects withdraw from external perception, turning inward toward a landscape of introspection and symbolic transformation. In this silent act of looking within, the series becomes a visual meditation on integration, the reconciliation of opposites, and the timeless search for wholeness.
"Winter Collection 2023"
Winter Collection 2023 questions the ambiguity of contemporary society and its fleeting representations of identity, beauty, and progress. Through a critical and poetic lens, the series explores the cyclical nature of cultural evolution, where the illusion of advancement often conceals repetition and constraint.
Drawing from the visual language of the fashion industry, the work reveals the dualities embedded within modern aesthetics: permanence and decay, individuality and conformity, empowerment and objectification.
Patterns of beauty and femininity recur like echoes, inviting reflection on how symbols are constructed, consumed, and reinterpreted across time.
In this body of work, fashion becomes both metaphor and mirror, an arena where ideals of transformation collide with the ephemeral rhythms of desire and representation. Winter Collection 2023 ultimately exposes the tension between what is seen and what is hidden, questioning whether true evolution can exist within systems that continuously replicate themselves.
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Hats
Symbology and themes:
Lack of trust in the institutions. Dogma. Modern slavery. Gender roles. Religion, law enforcement, financial organisations, educational structure, monarchies, judicial and correctional system.
Textiles and Wallpaper
Symbology and themes:
Disconnection with the natural world. Extinct species appreciated today through fancy fabrics, ornaments and museum pieces, among others. Miao tradition of headdress made with cow’s horns and dead ancestors' hair as a way of honouring a sacred animal and ancestors. Mother nature as a highly sophisticated entity. The gesture with the hands implying self- healing (Reiki) also represents providing and taking away. Mourning emblem.
Head Covers
Symbology and themes:
Identity crisis (1). Mestizaje. Zambo. Globalization. Integration/differentiation. Memory. Sacred geometry (energy patterns that create and unify all things).
Shoes
Symbology and themes:
Moral crisis. Fundamental human rights. Exploitation. Vulnerability. Annulation. Visibilization. Modest style dresses as a dualistic symbol of Beauty/devotion or resistance as in western countries vs. oppression. Same patterns, different perspectives.
Hairstyle
Symbology and themes:
Identity Crisis (2) Mulato. Mestizaje. Sacred geometry (energy patterns that create and unify all things). Braids as a symbol of resistance during colonization period. Afro-Colombians used braids as a tool for hiding gold pieces “pepitas de oro”or as maps to help fugitives survive and find freedom.
Gold Jewelry
Symbology and themes:
Identity Crisis (3) Heritage. Ornaments. Cultural patrimony and the contemporary society’s use of the past. Ethnic handcrafts. Mythology, ideology and belief systems vs. fashion trends.