Juana Marta Rodas was born in a peasant village and was initiated into the art of ceramics by her grandmother Maria Balbina Cuevas following a popular Paraguayan tradition of mother–daughter mentorship. Ceramics, one of the most significant manifestations of popular art in Paraguay, continues a millennia-old tradition, standing its ground in face of ongoing challenges posed – or imposed – by colonisation, modernity, and globalisation. Juana Marta Rodas has boldly effected an abrupt turn in this tradition by subverting its forms and themes and developing a singular style that both harkens back to her Guaraní origins and expresses a unique sensibility marked by contemporary art. The ancient pitchers, pots, and fountains of mestizo–Indigenous origins transform, incorporate zoomorphic and anthropomorphic forms, and take on whimsical protuberances and concavities. Juana Marta’s figures presented here reject the large-scale formats of conventional pots. Instead, she creates a bestiary of imaginary animals and hybrid beings guided by an imagination free from any reliance on naturalistic representation.
This is the first time the work of Juana Marta Rodas is presented at Biennale Arte.
—Ticio Escobar
