Alessandra Risi, a Peruvian painter born in Lima and now based in London, intricately weaves her country’s history into her artistic practice, blending vibrant color palettes with themes that resonate deeply with Peru’s cultural and environmental struggles. Amazonic Ashes marks her first solo exhibition in England, where she confronts the themes of fire and destruction with profound intensity. For Alessandra, this body of work is not merely an exploration of environmental catastrophe—it is a reflection of the cultural conflict she experiences as an artist navigating the intersection of her Peruvian roots and her life abroad.

Her canvases act as an extension of her homeland, capturing its fragile ecological and cultural condition. In August 2024, the Peruvian Amazon was ravaged by unprecedented wildfires, reducing over 3,000 hectares of forest, protected reserves, and agricultural land to ashes. These fires claimed at least 16 lives and left 134 injured, impacting 22 of Peru’s 24 regions. But beyond the immediate devastation, these events laid bare the deeper fractures within Peruvian society—fractures rooted in a colonial legacy that continues to shape perceptions of land and nature.The origins of this catastrophe can be traced to an inherited worldview born from Spanish colonialism, where land is seen not as a living entity but as a resource to be exploited. This extractive mentality, reinforced by capitalist systems, has fostered destructive agricultural practices, unchecked expansion, and a disregard for the delicate balance that sustains ecosystems. Adding another layer of complexity, esoteric groups performing rituals in the forest—seeking connection with nature—often wield fire carelessly, inadvertently becoming catalysts of environmental disaster.

The seeds of this imbalance were sown in 1532, with the conquest of Tawantinsuyu—the Inca Empire—by Spanish conquistadors. Colonial rule was followed by an aggressive campaign of evangelization aimed at dismantling indigenous belief systems. Spanish missionaries introduced painting as a tool for religious instruction, giving rise to artistic movements intended to replace native cosmologies with Catholic doctrine. Yet, painting also became a contested space where indigenous narratives, though suppressed, subtly resisted and reasserted themselves. It is within this lineage of conflict and negotiation that Alessandra Risi situates her work, addressing tensions that remain strikingly relevant in both the collective history of her homeland and her own personal experience. South America, traditionally characterized by its lush, untamed vegetation, now finds itself consumed by the force of fire— a symbol of destruction, but also of renewal. In a poetic twist of fate, the 2024 wildfires were partially extinguished by three days of uninterrupted rainfall, as nature itself intervened to restore a fragile equilibrium. This duality—where devastation gives way to regeneration—lies at the heart of Amazonic Ashes. Alessandra’s use of color and materiality captures this delicate balance, evoking the tension between destruction and rebirth, between pain and resilience.

Her artistic research is deeply anchored in a sense of belonging to her homeland, yet equally shaped by the physical and emotional distance imposed by her life in London. This tension between displacement and connection permeates her canvases, where fire becomes more than an agent of devastation—it transforms into a catalyst for reimagining the relationship between past and future. Amazonic Ashes emerges as a visual and symbolic reflection on the fragile relationship between humans and nature, on historical memory, and on unresolved cultural conflicts that continue to reverberate through time. Through her work, Alessandra Risi urges us to reconsider how we inhabit the world, to confront the legacies we have inherited, and to envision a future where harmony with the land is not an aspiration but a necessity.

Curated by Pietro Cattai