Diana Riesco-Lind

After several years of working with sport themes I wanted to look at another strong interest of mine - origins, or specifically, the things that define us, make us who we are and influence how we perceive the world. In my case, sports were already a part of who I was, but my family's origins have always intrigued me. I was born in the Amazon part of Peru, but I left there when I was very young. However, my place of birth was always the place were I felt I belonged. This strong interest turned out to be a project that I call Origen. I decided to start with the place where I was born as a first approach to my origins.This part of the project was done in a three to four year period and consisted initially in many visits to the Ucayali region (were I was born). I wanted to find out what, of all the different aspects of this place, really affected me and defined the way I perceive the world around me -- no matter where in the world I am standing. After many visits, documented wi

Title: Shipibo – Conibo Survivors, Artistic Development and Influences of a Living Culture, from Drawing to Painting.

In parallel to this thesis I did a series of over fifteen paintings and ten ceramic pieces. I decided to do painting and ceramics because they are the most popular artistic expressions within the Shipibo – Conibo. The series of ceramics are more abstract. They are part of an installation about how different aspects of life affect us. The images on the ceramic pieces each represent a different aspect such as: the people around us, our genes, our homes, our food, our natural world. All the ceramics pieces are plate shaped and are placed on red dirt specially brought from Pucallpa ("Pucallpa" in quechua means red dirt and it’s the color of most of the Ucayali region). The plates were placed in the dirt and actually look like puddles when I cover them with water. The dirt also symbolizes the people that live in this land. The idea was that the images painted on the ceramics are like the water that slowly filters through the ceramic and affects the dirt. What the images represen

2010 Hogar  * Oil on Canvas 2011 Donde te Fuiste  Oil on Canvas For the Bachelor thesis project  I decided to do oil paintings because it was the material that came naturally for me because of my studies at the University. The oil paintings are images of vegetation that represent the cycle of life. The images refer to Amazon spaces but also could be other places in the world. All the images were taken from walks I took through my family's farm lands in the Ucayali regions. I then reorganized the compositions and painted them. Haciendo Camino/ Making Path  -  Oil on canvas -  134.5cm. x 89.6 cm. Cielo en La Tierra/ Sky on Earth Oil on canvas 105cm. x 69cm. Origen de Paisaje / Landscape Origin * -  Oil on canvas-  115cm. x 90cm. Mi Piel/ My Skin Oil on canvas 118cm. x 90cm.  En cualquier parte/ Anywhere   * Oil on canvas 105cm. x 70cm. Infiltrado / Infiltrated