Soliloquy of the Wounded Earth
Hauser & Wirth, New York
From September 4th until October 18th, 2025
The central figure in María Berrío’s works is the human being in all its forms, with strengths and fragilities, thoughts and emotions, fears and convictions. Her subjects come into direct contact with the viewer, inviting them into their world and transporting them into luminous, abstract realities. The creative process closely resembles human nature itself, its storytelling; like every tale recounted and passed down, which shifts from voice to voice and becomes enriched with details—sometimes even imagined—so too are her compositions built through different layers. Each new line is an additional narrative element. The fusion of watercolour painting and collage on Japanese paper lends her work an unconventional material and gestural quality.
Each piece appears as a pictorial architecture of its own, layered with myths and tales, colours and drawings, light and shadow. Contemporary experiences peek through history, while modernity emerges within myth. The new works, presented on the occasion of Soliloquy of the Wounded Earth, are large-scale canvases that depict imaginary settings and uncanny yet lifelike characters, allowing the viewer to journey through a dreamlike sensation of perpetual déjà vu. The world and society are in constant flux; everything around us moves quickly, and it becomes difficult to grasp the everyday details that weave together past, present, and future. María spent the first years of her life in Colombia, surrounded by nature, music, and storytelling. It is from this environment that her creative consciousness was born, expanding ever more deeply within a Western world to which she has now grown accustomed.
“I love the feel, the smell, the different tactile sensations between different types, the colours, and the enormous amount of care that goes into making them… I love all the possibilities [paper] provides and how it continues to surprise me.”
opening image: Soliloquy of the Wounded Earth, María Berrío.
For the occasion, a series of vertical portraits inspired by the myth of the three Moirai (the Greek Fates) is presented. Here the tale is enriched by popular tradition: the familiar figures are reimagined as Colombian Cumbia dancers, each playing with an iridescent blue ribbon, a symbol of the thread of life that they delicately spin, measure, cut, and shape. This story extends throughout the exhibition, becoming part of a parallel world in which human beings seem capable of taking control of their own destinies. Yet the narrative appears to reach a sorrowful conclusion, with conflict and strife, desolate and scorched landscapes.
The composition that gives the exhibition its title depicts an elegant rider clad in a pale cloak, rushing through a decidedly contemporary backdrop of billboards with bold lettering and vivid colours. A solitary traveler in search of something pure and authentic, fleeing the logics of economy and consumerism. The Ground of Being, instead, tells the story of a young woman lifted into the sky among towering banners; the sacred aura of the figure soon gives way to the scene of Edge of the Salted Plains, where a group of riders stand poised for battle.
The divine and the mythological are indistinguishable, just as history and the everyday intertwine. Religious faith, rich with symbolism, blends with the confusion of factions and conflict. Destiny cannot be recognised. Fate cannot be chosen. Despair is also hope. Joy is also sorrow. These paintings weave together memory and tradition with all that the present and the future hold.
For further information hauserandwirth.com.
