Gabriela Bornstein

My work has always been about connecting, but since the pandemic, instead of looking outwards to find this connections, I’ve been looking inwards. My perception shifted and I urged to explore what was inside of me, overflowing my feelings, emotions, and channeling my intuition, which lead me to investigate my ancestry. I created the Tropical Surrealism Series to honor my roots and celebrate my ancestors. Being a Brazilian immigrant living in NY for 25 years, I feel an increasing interest to reconnect with my own identity. Recently I started to research and develop paintings based on my imaginary ancestry heritage. I contacted distant relatives, found revealing family pictures and did a DNA test, confirming my suspected mixed origins: Indigenous, Black and White. I started using old family photos as a reference in my artwork and I created scenes that come from my unconscious while portraying the miscegenation of the Brazilian population and their traditions. The richness of afro-indigenous culture and the tropical fauna and flora is overwhelming. I would like to contribute with the fight for social and environmental justice, as well as human rights by honoring and valuing the oppressed people and our Mother Nature through my paintings.