Rita Vargas: HOLDING GROUND

The exhibition proposes an encounter with foreign species, subjects of devotion, and imagined souls inhabiting familiar forms.

Through textures that evoke both the human body and the sensation of surveillance, the artist explores the experience of being observed while using devotion as a metaphorical connection to the unknown.

Working through materials, images, and installations, Vargas investigates landscapes that appear universal to the human eye, where geographical origins dissolve and associations become fluid. Responding to the growing polarization of contemporary societies, the artist seeks to reconnect realms of existence that are often perceived as separate. Whether a body, an emotion, a landscape, a plant, or a passing thought, these elements coexist and interact within our shared experience of the world.

Holding Ground brings together a selection of works ranging from printmaking and photography to installation. The exhibition is tied to an ongoing inquiry into habitats, territories, and species, both real and imagined. Through these works, Vargas reflects on belonging, identity, surveillance, devotion, and the fragile relationships that connect living beings to the places they inhabit.

The exhibition opening will take place at 29th of July at 5-7pm, welcome!

Vargas is a visual artist working across sculpture, installation, printmaking, and photography. Her practice engages with migration and diasporic identity through material metaphors and layered imagery. Drawing on classical iconography, she combines woodcuts, photographic fragments, ceramics, and cork to construct symbolic spaces where personal and collective histories converge. Rooted in Portugal, shaped by Japanese influences, and informed by years in Finland, Vargas creates works that embrace theatricality and fragmentation as forms of resilience and transformation.