Colombia
Statement
My artistic practice has progressed in a way that the research aspect mainly focuses on exploring and dissecting the various sociocultural issues that revolves around our society. I am interested in creating work that revolves around subjects such as identity issues, gender inequality, sexuality, environmental issues, technology and how these relates to human perception.
As time passes, I have noticed that I have become less and less attached to the established beliefs and understandings that I used to have growing up. Questioning the ideologies of this structured society, such as religion, evolution, and educational systems, has awakened my curiosity on how these aspects can have possible limitations on our sensorial capacity to perceive the world around us.
As a result, my research during the past year has evolved in a way that the main focus is to better understand the sources that create perceptions that can lead to a negative impact in such issues. Some example include how language influences the way we see colour, and how the perceptions that we have of colour can create inequality between genders.
My current work covers an ongoing exploration of different theories explaining the conditioned mind caused by the structure of our society and how this can limit our vision of the world. Practices such as Buddhist meditation and Neurotherapy are also subjects of interest for my research as it has shown the capacity of the brain perceptive apparatus to be altered in a positive way.
By understanding the above, I intend to integrate these findings into my artistic practice with the purpose of generating new perspectives in the audience in a way that could potentially lead to a positive change in social attitudes.
Profile
GlogauAIR resident from 2019-01-05 to 2019-01-05
GlogauAIR Project
Qualia is described as an individual’s personal experience or perception of a specific quality or property. In other words, qualia refers to the different feelings that people encounter to certain experiences. We all know fear to be a negative feeling, however we can not know for sure that we all experience fear in the same way. What might be a frightening experience to someone, could cause a feeling of excitement to someone else.(Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2018)
Because colours have been labelled in our language, the concept of ‘qualia’ doesn’t necessarily apply to ‘red’ or ‘green’. For example, from a young age colour has been introduced in our minds in a way that can create the same perceptions around one society. We are shown a strawberry and we are told that it is red, we are shown grass and told that it is green, we are shown the sun and told that it is yellow. This can create an instant relation about colours and objects in our brains. The colour “yellow” is usually attached to feelings of excitement, cheerfulness and stimulation. Such feelings are also described to be a common reaction in people when exposed to the sun.
Hence the word ‘qualia’ in this case would not apply to ‘yellow’ since we all seem to experience similar feelings when we see such colour.
Nevertheless, what will happen if there is a language in a different society that does not include the word ‘yellow’? In this case ‘yellow’ will be qualified as ‘qualia’ since the experience of such vision will be unique to the individual.
I will use this opportunity to research the possibility that the use of labels for colours creates a similar perception in our brains that facilitates communication among a society, at the same time this system of labelling could potentially be a limitation for the brain in terms of the vision and consciousness of an individual. And I will create art work regarding my findings.
CV Summary
- Raised by a Colombian mother and a Lebanese father in a Swiss school in Bogota, Colombia, Fiorella Basil had the experience of growing up in an environment with people from diverse cultures. This opportunity allowed her to understand how different perspectives of life are formed, which then enabled her to comprehend the importance of learning from different cultures. It was her interest for multiculturalism that led her to develop her artistic language, and the main reason she decided to move to London at the age of 18.
- In 2017, Fiorella graduated with a BA in Illustration and Visual Communication from London College of Communication and she then completed a Graduate Diploma in Fine Arts at Chelsea College of Arts, where she graduated in 2018.
- While living in London she participated in several art projects; including “Island”, a project bringing together artists from Colombia living in London, as well as various exhibitions in London spaces such as Safe house and Apiary Studios and Stour Space. On top of that she has also participated in an exhibition in Paris at the Bristol Hotel with artist Ivan Argote.
- Currently, Fiorella is living back in Colombia where she is participating in several cultural projects focusing on showcasing and promoting the work of emerging Colombian artists
