Orsina Pasargiklian London, United Kingdom

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I am a painter and mixed media artist based in London, originally from Italy. With my artworks, I tackle issues that are relevant to today’s political and cultural landscape. My goal as an artist is to exhibit rather than to create for commercial purposes, therefore I aim collaborate with platforms that seek to showcase socially and environmentally conscious art.

My practice is concerned with the relationship between the aesthetic of an environment (urban or natural) and the science, history and social context that shapes it. I draw inspiration from architecture, cartography, statistical data, scientific and social-scientific texts to propose that these elements play a significant role in coloring the scenery. Mine is a research-based practice that delves into issues that are central to today’s social climate through a scientific lens.

In my geometric paintings I use three-dimensional structures to encapsulate the essence of urban architecture and its spectacle. They are rendered with soft and earthy colours to draw a comparison to living organisms, suggesting that cities are evolving in time like they have an ecosystem of their own. At the same time the vertiginous perspectives and fissures recall earth cracks and fractures of a collapsing scenery, addressing human interference with the environment.

Cartography is a significant feature my practice. I started using maps to think about the urban environment from a different perspective, one that rather than portraying the ambience within, makes the audience look at places in a global context, as part of a bigger picture.

Moreover, Maps draw attention back to the land rather than what was built on, it is in fact the earth that is at the core of my latest projects.

I have been researching on those environments and ecosystems that have been affected by climate change, and that nevertheless hold the potential to counteract human damage to the earth, such as kelp forests, coastal wetlands, and volcanoes.

For my earth-based projects I have introduced ground natural materials as part of my practice, such as crushed rocks, magnetic powder, iron oxide and natural pigments.

I use these materials to recreate geological textures and reactions in an art imitates nature effort, and to develop a sustainably sourced body of work that reflects on the importance and precariousness of our natural world.