Matea shifts her fascination with the transformation of material to material reincarnation. The production of new materials has a significant ecological impact because it demands a lot from the soil. She is exploring ways to revalue material while including its history in the artwork.

Sometimes she allows geometric forms linked to a material to collapse, as it were. In its collapsed form a seemingly weighty lifeless sculpture can evoke empathy in the viewer.

Geometric forms are the foundation of Matea’s works, as they demarcate territory. The organic appearance of the (re)used materials stands out creating a clear contrast with the geometric shapes.

Her house is full of plants; no less than eighty ‘housemates’. Because she has propagated almost all the plants herself, she witnesses the growth process from the very beginning. She sees how a new leaf unfurls, as the outlines are more distinct on the newly emerged leaves. And she witnesses the old dying leaves gradually change color and texture.

‘Plants, too, create geometric shapes that eventually turn into organic forms. A young leaf of my Ten Commandments plant is rolled up so tightly that it creates a tube shape and only then unfolds. The young Monstera Delicosia creates almost perfect circles from newly developed holes in the leaf. Then, as they grow larger, more organic forms emerge. When are these forms, aesthetically speaking, the most exciting? I ask myself.’

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