María Dávila & Eduardo Portillo, live and work in Mérida, Venezuelan Andes. Textile Artists, devoted together since 1983 to the silk world, fibers and natural dyes. They are interested in experiences, materials and process that bear the imprint of people and places. Their work is driven by their relationship with the surroundings and how it can be communicated with a contemporary textile language, it has been shown at international exhibitions… on public and private collections such as The Whitworth Art Gallery UK, Longhouse Reserve and the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, USA, and recognized by UNESCO for its contribution to the design and weaving of silk. Actually they are devoted to a search journey to understand the landscape and the human geography of the southern towns of Mérida and to interpret an imagined Cosmos that they find in this mountainous region. Recently they have been awarded with the Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship 2017.
Watch Maria Davila and Eduardo Portillo talk about their creation process with textiles using silk, venezuelan bast fibers and indigo, and their work with metal and bronze casting.