In a new project, Inés has collaborated with one of her best friends and photographer Sara Bastai, designed with pieces designed by jewelry designer Zelda Passini. In one image, we see a cropped visual of a woman’s face, tears streaming down her translucent skin, and eyes as blue as a clear summer sky. Another image is also cropped, but this time our gaze is on a woman’s hands touching the back of her neck. Created at the start of the pandemic, Inés calls it a “special” project, as they decided to work together while in isolation.
“We were locked up at home and had this collaboration in mind – we decided to do it during these two weeks of isolation with my other flatmate, Joanna (who is captured in the photos). We used the nerdy story from the movie Phantom as a source of inspiration but transferred to a relationship between two women. We tried to represent the feeling of frustration when the ghost tries to touch his beloved but, of course, he can’t because he is no longer a body. It conjures up images of disconnection and longing for human contact, which of course have been experienced by many during the pandemic. “It’s a metaphor for the lack of physical contact that we were all experiencing at that time.”
In another piece, Inés moves away from the format of painting and focuses instead on installation. The draped fabric hangs from a twisted wire hanger, while the material is adorned with painterly visuals – much like the work we see in the rest of her portfolio. Somewhat reminiscent of Renaissance painting, we see cherubs and grapes peeking through the folds of the fabric. “It aims to explore desire and love, and how sometimes, in our experiences, we confuse them,” she says. “I believe that desire is the motor that drives human life, it makes us dream, it claims life, pleasure, self-realization and freedom.”
All of Inés’ works have a concept deeply rooted beneath the surface. She aspires to duality, whether through the idea, the narration or the material choices. “I want the pieces to emphasize the feeling and the price we have to pay when the object we want may not be the best for us, even if it satisfies our appetite,” says- she. Yet despite these underlying messages, Ines hopes you will interpret your own stories from her works – they are free for all to enjoy and experience. “On the other hand, in very general terms, I would like the kind of messages that my pieces convey to be of sisterhood; messages that communicate that you are not alone in experiencing what you are experiencing, or feeling what you feel, and challenging the mode of representation established by social norms.
