Silent Poetry Alchemies

Gaby Oshiro

Rooted in wabi-sabi, my practice moves between creation and decay, where materials reveal

their truths as they fracture, fade, and transform. Torn fibers, charred marks, and voids do not

decorate—they testify.

Shaped by Argentina’s dictatorship and the enforced disappearance of my father, this work

entwines personal history with collective memory, functioning as a quiet form of testimony. It

resists erasure, holding space for what might otherwise be forgotten, and invites viewers to

reflect on the persistence of absence. Within this shared space, the installation becomes a site of

contemplation—where echoes of the past can be felt, and where destruction and creation remain

bound together in the fragile act of remembering.

I propose an immersive installation where paintings, organic light sculptures, and altered found

objects—such as skeletal chairs—inhabit a single, interdependent space at the threshold between

creation and destruction, balancing chaos with order, stillness with violence, and the ephemeral

with the enduring.

Large-scale paintings will be transformed into sculptural forms that stand, fold, or suspend,

filling the room as tangible presences and culminating in a unified exhibition and catalog,

preserving and sharing the project’s concepts, processes, and outcomes.

Inspired by Arte Povera and Leonardo da Vinci’s “La pittura è poesia muta,” the work explores

the alchemy and evocative power of materials—washi paper, bamboo, pumice, fibers, turmeric,

acrylics, inks, and tar—through fire, tearing, burning, collage, décollage, and shodō

interventions. Marks drawn from Oracle Bone script and altered calligraphy serve as traces of

lost messages, fragments that resonate with history and absence.

Ultimately, my creative practice to become a vessel for cultural memory, transformation, and reflection.

Through Silent Poetry Alchemies, I aim to create environments where fractured histories are

revealed, where what remains is the residue of loss, the beauty of impermanence, and the

evocative power of materials to carry traces of personal and collective histories. It is an invitation

to witness change, contemplate fragility, and engage with the alchemy of creation through

destruction—a space where silence, scars, and absence are preserved and transformed into a

tactile, visual language that speaks across time.