Elisabete Finger & Manuela Eichner

Historically women’s involvement with the surrounding nature has often been condemned as witchcraft and severely punished, or perceived as a domestic and decorative relationship. Reminiscent of a ritual, MONSTRA sets the classic against the absurd and the organic against the artificial. In the encounter between these contrasts, many of our cultures’ arbitrary ideas of human’s position in relation to plants and of acceptable female behaviour are manifested. MONSTRA is performed by five women and seven plants. Overwhelming in its physicality, the work elicits thoughts around our complex relationship to nature as well as to sexuality and gender. From the aseptic beginning to the chaotic end, the bodies of women and plants become progressively more wild, unpredictable, empowered and potentially also dangerous.

Manuela Eichner (f. 1980, Foz do Iguaçu) is an artist based in São Paulo and Berlin.
Elisabete Finger (f. 1984, Arroio do Tigre) is a performance artist and choreographer based in São Paulo.

As part of Woven Songs, in collaboration with Public Art Agency Sweden.

Work

MONSTRA, 2017
Choreographic performance