| Sydney, 23 July 2024] The Museum of Contemporary Australia Art (MCA Australia) will commence a national tour of Maria Fernanda Cardoso: Spiders of Paradise in 2024, celebrating the natural beauty and wonder of the Australian Maratus spider. The exhibition is developed and toured by MCA Australia and will be presented in six galleries across Australia.
Maria Fernanda Cardoso is a Colombian Australian artist who is internationally renowned for using unconventional and organic materials to consider nature and its links to culture and science. Using sculpture, photography, installation, video and performance, her work examines the connections and tensions between society and the natural world.
The MCA Australia touring exhibition of Spiders of Paradise presents Cardoso’s ongoing photographic project on the captivating tiny Australian Maratus spider. Engaging the creative terrain between science, art and nature, this exhibition celebrates the remarkable beauty of the natural world and reveals the sophisticated lives of creatures that are usually unseen.
For Cardoso the Maratus spider holds a special place in the natural ecosystem. She says, ‘The Maratus spiders of Australia are the most colourful, flamboyant, sexy, and charming spiders on the planet. To me, their use of colour, gesture, sound and movement makes them sophisticated visual and performing artists. They are also the smallest performers I know of, on average about 3-5mm in size, smaller than a grain of rice.’ |
