Mariana del Castillo
2022 CAPO Fellowship Update

I would like to thank CAPO for giving me the financial freedom to experiment and create totally new works in response to transformative experiences in the landscape. It has been my honour to be the recipient of the 2022 CAPO Fellowship.

In early 2022 I was invited by the University of Canberra to mentor and deliver arts for recovery workshops for the Regeneration program substantially funded by donations raised by Magda Zsubanski and Will Connolly. Regeneration is a collaborative response to complex traumas experienced by Australia’s rural communities from drought and bushfires. While in the Snow Valleys high country I saw first-hand the devastation that the bushfires had on the landscape, enormous black hills, extended vistas and darkened valleys. In between workshops I began to sketch the vast landscape between the small towns of Batlow, Tumbarumba, Adelong and Tumut. These drawings created the seed that was later germinated in my studio and began to inform my new constructions. 

In mid 2022 I undertook a Bundanon residency. This solitary time brought clarity to my relationship with nature and its importance to my art practice. My new works move away from my internal landscape out into country. Over this intense, creative period, I felt compelled to bring the effects of climate change more directly into my art practice. However, I struggled for many months to find a visual language that felt honest. 

Mid 2023 began with my solo exhibition QUIET – UNQUIET at the Shoalhaven Art Gallery, curated by Bridget Macleod. This exhibition consisted of a deep and immersive series of textile constructions that required hours of quiet stitching while contemplating the local landscape. Central to the exhibition is an abstraction of country concerned with mark making and composition. Stitching out in the landscape away from my studio allowed me to translate immediate moments in real time.

I was invited to deliver a textile workshop to the Shoalhaven community which started with an exhibition floor talk. The workshop allowed me the opportunity to hear the stories of the participants and their experiences around their changing local environment. A productive conversation with First Nations local artist and educator Warwick Keen led to a mixed media book-making workshop in the Aboriginal Cultural Arts program, Bomaderry. It was great to see art students ignite their imaginations and choose moments in their lives to tell their story. It was a very rich experience which gave me the opportunity to understand the historical environment of the Shoalhaven through the eyes of First Nation artists. 

My second exhibition (group) DRAWN TO PLACE: A SHIFT IN THE LANDSCAPE, at the New England Regional Art Museum, curated by Belinda Hungerford, continued my exploration of the Australian landscape through textile, collage, stitching, mono printing and painting. While visiting the New England region I led a textile book-making workshop open to the Armidale community. This allowed me insights into their stories and the environmental challenges they anticipate in the coming years.  

As a result of the Shoalhaven exhibition, I was invited to have a solo exhibition AN ACCOMPLICE IN SOMETHING OTHER at the Spud gallery in Robertson on the Southern tablelands. This allowed me to create a new suite of landscapes with a continued emphasis on mono printing and collage. The proximity of Robertson to the Shoalhaven River has allowed me a deeper understanding of the relationship and ecology of the tablelands, the escarpment and the coastal floodplains, and the different challenges these communities will face from ongoing climate change. 

I would especially like to thank all the passionate artists who donated work to make these grants possible. The CAPO Fellowship grant initiated a very important phase in my art practice.