RAC FOUNDATION HOSTS THE BARAYA’S CAMELLIAS EXPEDITION

The RAC Foundation presents, at its headquarters in Pontevedra, Expedition Camellias: Herbal of Artificial Plants, a solo show by Alberto Baraya (Bogotá, Colombia, 1968), originating from the Artist-in-Residence program developed by the foundation. The exhibition features a group of twelve works resulting from a research project on the camellia—a flower native to China and Japan that has become an essential element in the landscapes, gardens, and parks of western Galicia.

May 08, 2025
RAC FOUNDATION HOSTS THE BARAYA’S CAMELLIAS EXPEDITION

The project also reflects the Colombian artist’s interest in the use of art as a tool for knowledge and as a platform for aesthetic and informational approaches. In this case, irony also emerges as one of the recurring elements in the construction of the project. The artist takes on the role of an explorer in search of artificial nature, particularly botanical, allowing him to reconstruct the ancestral ties lost between humans and their natural environment.

 

In preparing this exhibition, the artist conducted a process of prior empirical research, visiting places where camellias play a central role both functionally and symbolically. Based on this research, the results have been brought together in this exhibition. Herbal of Artificial Plants thus presents an artistic project centered on this fictional botany.

The works are displayed as an herbarium—a scientific archive containing samples, photographs, drawings, and stories of this artificial biology that reflects the current relationship between humans and plants. The plants, turned into objects, originate—like the original camellias—from the Far East, and allow Baraya to explore the game of doubt and illusion by adopting the aesthetics of scientific knowledge: analyzing, detailing characteristics, yet at the same time concealing the truth at first glance.

 

Expedition Camellias: Herbal of Artificial Plants will be on view until June 1 at Fundación RAC, Sarmiento 41, Pontevedra (Spain).

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