https://mhtoscano.com Maria Helena Toscano | Artist, Researcher & Designer Fri, 01 May 2026 21:22:19 +0000 https://mhtoscano.com en https://mhtoscano.com/Roots Thu, 12 Sep 2024 10:29:23 +0000 Maria Helena Toscano | Artist, Researcher & Designer https://mhtoscano.com/Roots Uprooted: Incomplete Family Portrait &amp; the Bleaching of Roots. (2024) This work consists of five spectral forms, each representing a family member. The piece forms an incomplete family portrait, mirroring the fragmented nature of first-generation diasporic families. Using the metaphor of an uprooted tree as a ghost, I explore themes of migration, displacement, and extraction—the extraction of people, beliefs, knowledge, and culture. I draw parallels between nature, personal experiences, family narratives, and history. I use the ghosts and the construction of their bodies to examine trauma and the resources we use to adapt and repair, colliding materials in the process. Portraying exile as a transformative process rather than a static state — an ongoing journey of becoming. A significant spiritual dimension emerges from my research into the Quimbayas and the rites of María Lionza in Yaracuy, Venezuela, their rituals, and artifacts, which were used to navigate the space between life and the afterlife, living between worlds. This exploration connects to the broader religious syncretism observed in South America, where diverse influences have shaped the region's spiritual landscape. <img width="4600" height="3066" width_o="4600" height_o="3066" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b4e7a575918c3ca5da08e8439d259f00d00be1ca56311f388731944fc63fb05e/Artboard-1-copy-32x.jpg" data-mid="217965341" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b4e7a575918c3ca5da08e8439d259f00d00be1ca56311f388731944fc63fb05e/Artboard-1-copy-32x.jpg" /> <img width="4600" height="3066" width_o="4600" height_o="3066" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/cfd71e4d6d7c7515921c34996c12fbb76ceda20428e8a8ef6ea933d28a03168a/Artboard-1-copy-22x.jpg" data-mid="217967019" border="0" data-no-zoom="true" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/cfd71e4d6d7c7515921c34996c12fbb76ceda20428e8a8ef6ea933d28a03168a/Artboard-1-copy-22x.jpg" /> <img width="4600" height="3066" width_o="4600" height_o="3066" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/14dd2f00c386f6c0c0a28301c9e25f3fba1b9679d364b86dd53358ebcfb31788/Artboard-1-copy-52x.jpg" data-mid="217967190" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/14dd2f00c386f6c0c0a28301c9e25f3fba1b9679d364b86dd53358ebcfb31788/Artboard-1-copy-52x.jpg" /> <img width="5620" height="3748" width_o="5620" height_o="3748" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/105cd2a08aec4bfd51468f518f5d041f8f38ca49c5f82eac0b9e5685da5e0579/Uprooted_New_112x.jpg" data-mid="217967041" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/105cd2a08aec4bfd51468f518f5d041f8f38ca49c5f82eac0b9e5685da5e0579/Uprooted_New_112x.jpg" /> <img width="4600" height="3066" width_o="4600" height_o="3066" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c61738e39663258d668f3bc15958f8b6a9e1c07c4c2af2c9366f8d19d2a65ed5/Artboard-1-copy-62x.jpg" data-mid="217967219" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c61738e39663258d668f3bc15958f8b6a9e1c07c4c2af2c9366f8d19d2a65ed5/Artboard-1-copy-62x.jpg" /> https://mhtoscano.com/The-Body-Weight-of-Passports Tue, 02 May 2023 13:02:23 +0000 Maria Helena Toscano | Artist, Researcher & Designer https://mhtoscano.com/The-Body-Weight-of-Passports The Body Weight of Passports (2023) A passport is commonly known as a small booklet issued by a government to identify its holder as a citizen and facilitate international travel. However, its significance extends beyond mere documentation, and its impact can vary greatly depending on one's privilege. As stated, "Passports are not neutral. Passports are material evidence of exercising discrimination. How bodies move is unevenly and asymmetrical." [1] To expose the less obvious qualities of a passport, I seek to explore its visual and sensorial aspects. The passport can give rise to a sense of physicality that can produce a slow body, a heavy body, and even resented one. By submerging my passport in a concrete brick, I transform the lightweight and portable booklet into a weighty object that represents the passport's heaviness and its potential to constrain and discriminate. Paradoxically, this process also strengthens the passport. The brick reinforces the notion of building walls and division, highlighting the ways in which the passport can create barriers and promote unequal mobility. [1] Keshavarz, Mahmoud. The Design Politics of the Passport: Materiality, Immobility, and Dissent. Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2019. <img width="4000" height="2768" width_o="4000" height_o="2768" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7a422921de0b96b7339052a3f01aefb58af42119591404503ad44aae4a9469d0/MariaHelenaToscano_052x.jpg" data-mid="177407275" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7a422921de0b96b7339052a3f01aefb58af42119591404503ad44aae4a9469d0/MariaHelenaToscano_052x.jpg" /><img width="3600" height="2400" width_o="3600" height_o="2400" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/da403f534c830a5482d519278de8f4b52dda3e5b1f9007d1adb3e66cc125589a/MariaHelenaToscano_012x.jpg" data-mid="177407713" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/da403f534c830a5482d519278de8f4b52dda3e5b1f9007d1adb3e66cc125589a/MariaHelenaToscano_012x.jpg" /> The Body Weight of Passports, 2022 Concrete bricks with Venezuelan passport Dimensions: Standard UK brick size 215 x 102.5 x 65mm <img width="3110" height="1894" width_o="3110" height_o="1894" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c130e858855759c85d834bf44fbad08e1aa843ff6413b492464f0ee3855e6d61/MariaHelenaToscano_122x.jpg" data-mid="216506275" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c130e858855759c85d834bf44fbad08e1aa843ff6413b492464f0ee3855e6d61/MariaHelenaToscano_122x.jpg" /> Performative Actions I - Attributing weight to different passports <img width="2160" height="2630" width_o="2160" height_o="2630" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/334f64426d1c2ec1945cf864bb41efbdec3cc27e127d2ba0df71204d615db548/Artboard-62x.jpg" data-mid="216506255" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/334f64426d1c2ec1945cf864bb41efbdec3cc27e127d2ba0df71204d615db548/Artboard-62x.jpg" /> <img width="2160" height="2630" width_o="2160" height_o="2630" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/1e26abf2b14a2413eb599875aea05f976d4a7c97fea9d9e6d77a0aa0b75e1edc/Artboard-92x.jpg" data-mid="216506261" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/1e26abf2b14a2413eb599875aea05f976d4a7c97fea9d9e6d77a0aa0b75e1edc/Artboard-92x.jpg" /> Performative Actions II <img width="1440" height="2230" width_o="1440" height_o="2230" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/dbeae8deb1db96eecc72218139ddd2ffecd0280b95869b28c38638d14636f236/DSCF1931.jpg" data-mid="247780858" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/dbeae8deb1db96eecc72218139ddd2ffecd0280b95869b28c38638d14636f236/DSCF1931.jpg" /> <img width="3619" height="5515" width_o="3619" height_o="5515" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/41038fff65e7285f49b5d36af871be3a0695da094100f716eb25507aefb09dce/DSCF1913.jpg" data-mid="247780848" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/41038fff65e7285f49b5d36af871be3a0695da094100f716eb25507aefb09dce/DSCF1913.jpg" /> <img width="1616" height="2414" width_o="1616" height_o="2414" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/257c16bba4ed2d4f44f9e66f7b0e1af67fe47c54c773ff769b81acf0e84406cc/DSCF1931_.jpg" data-mid="247780885" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/257c16bba4ed2d4f44f9e66f7b0e1af67fe47c54c773ff769b81acf0e84406cc/DSCF1931_.jpg" /> <img width="1080" height="1350" width_o="1080" height_o="1350" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f184cb04612cee360cb6119b4e87c274523a7bda45ff494266fc98fc9e5c9f3c/BWP_062x.jpg" data-mid="177412763" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f184cb04612cee360cb6119b4e87c274523a7bda45ff494266fc98fc9e5c9f3c/BWP_062x.jpg" /> Concrete brick with Venezuelan passport insert and string. Dimensions: Standard UK brick size 215 x 102.5 x 65mm https://mhtoscano.com/Maracas Fri, 01 May 2026 21:12:43 +0000 Maria Helena Toscano | Artist, Researcher & Designer https://mhtoscano.com/Maracas Ya llegan las serpientes: Percusión Planetaria(Here Come the Serpents: Planetary Percussion) (2026)Quartz sand, mirror, acrylic, maracas, dried gourds, wood, bleached beeswax, cotton thread, Huayruro seeds, fabric, carbon, copper, sequins, flexible ducting220 x 220 x 90 cmGroup Show Personal Preference, Thames-Side Studios GalleryCurated by Rita Fernández Individual artefacts:Maraca Orbital I–III <img width="4000" height="2667" width_o="4000" height_o="2667" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/2e448796eabbca86ea8dd6fe8b147b00d45e860dcbe77ca46066950bc0c8ecdb/Maria-Helena-Toscano-Maracas_08.jpg" data-mid="253622332" border="0" data-no-zoom src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/2e448796eabbca86ea8dd6fe8b147b00d45e860dcbe77ca46066950bc0c8ecdb/Maria-Helena-Toscano-Maracas_08.jpg" /> <img width="2160" height="2880" width_o="2160" height_o="2880" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/cec7e556a1b5a53275bcea6bb610d730e15eea0ea68086265c4ab91b00ab01a7/Maria-Helena-Toscano-MO-IV.png" data-mid="253622413" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/cec7e556a1b5a53275bcea6bb610d730e15eea0ea68086265c4ab91b00ab01a7/Maria-Helena-Toscano-MO-IV.png" /> <img width="2667" height="4000" width_o="2667" height_o="4000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4cbc819ab05a68cf4804440087b87bf246493456349ab262ab6194abe0fa468a/Maria-Helena-Toscano-Maracas-06.jpg" data-mid="253622412" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/4cbc819ab05a68cf4804440087b87bf246493456349ab262ab6194abe0fa468a/Maria-Helena-Toscano-Maracas-06.jpg" /> <img width="4000" height="2667" width_o="4000" height_o="2667" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a93674f77fdceaa3120f99d385d1334e75adcd50bfb8e7623ad9119789f326d4/Maria-Helena-Toscano-Maracas_01.jpg" data-mid="253622407" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a93674f77fdceaa3120f99d385d1334e75adcd50bfb8e7623ad9119789f326d4/Maria-Helena-Toscano-Maracas_01.jpg" /> <img width="2236" height="2999" width_o="2236" height_o="2999" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e88be2136551c2e1f72cd29dd29f10b12514541571eb1266d4ee7fbadd7eb3fe/Maria-Helena-Toscano-MO-II.png" data-mid="253622410" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/e88be2136551c2e1f72cd29dd29f10b12514541571eb1266d4ee7fbadd7eb3fe/Maria-Helena-Toscano-MO-II.png" /> <img width="2667" height="4000" width_o="2667" height_o="4000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/207fabf3c5993d69bb834ab8628ead2abc38dbb8a96fed7eb72472a97a5a5420/Maria-Helena-Toscano-Maracas_09.jpg" data-mid="254014871" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/207fabf3c5993d69bb834ab8628ead2abc38dbb8a96fed7eb72472a97a5a5420/Maria-Helena-Toscano-Maracas_09.jpg" /> Photography: Sergey Novikov https://mhtoscano.com/Antenas-Sonoras Fri, 01 May 2026 21:22:19 +0000 Maria Helena Toscano | Artist, Researcher & Designer https://mhtoscano.com/Antenas-Sonoras Antenas Sonoras, Traces of Dissent series &amp; Audio: Alma (2026) Group exhibition, Somers Gallery with José Garcia Oliva, Daniel Greenfield-Campoverde and Lucia Vera Curated by&nbsp;Daniel Greenfield-Campoverde Curatorial text by Jenn Ellis Download PDF The pot, or cacerola, serves as a voice of rage: a vessel of dissent embodied in material form. It shouts the tension between the hunger of the greedy and the hunger and disparity they create, piercing through ideologies crafted to maintain control and justify the violence of displacement and exploitation. At the same time, it becomes an antenna, an instrument for transmitting dissent across distance. The cacerolazo belongs to crowds: a dense, public, collective sonic force. Here it is reconfigured through the condition of diaspora, a protest done from afar: dispersed, singular, yet still carrying the memory of collective rupture. Embedded with transducers, the pots reactivate deconstructed cacerolazo recordings. Sound travels through the metal body of each vessel, turning the container into an emitter. The sound piece, Alma (2026), is built from a recorded attempt to follow the rhythm of Alma Llanera by Alberto Romero on a pot. The melody appears and dissolves among percussive strikes, chanting, gunshots, sounds from student protests in Venezuela, and deep resonances, transmitted through the body of the pots. The sonic mark-making shifts with time and performance. <img width="3841" height="5761" width_o="3841" height_o="5761" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/53e7d1520736c8b09084cccee4144b3757988394efeb5ddd10c4f014dcab57be/Maria-Helena-Toscano-Cacerola-03.jpg" data-mid="254015029" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/53e7d1520736c8b09084cccee4144b3757988394efeb5ddd10c4f014dcab57be/Maria-Helena-Toscano-Cacerola-03.jpg" /> <img width="5546" height="3698" width_o="5546" height_o="3698" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c61bccff72a896f22bcbedd81ab06e278629542c56fa4070b54fdf6eb3ea5a21/Maria-Helena-Toscano-Cacerola.jpg" data-mid="254015123" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c61bccff72a896f22bcbedd81ab06e278629542c56fa4070b54fdf6eb3ea5a21/Maria-Helena-Toscano-Cacerola.jpg" /> https://mhtoscano.com/Manifesto Tue, 07 Jun 2022 21:51:33 +0000 Maria Helena Toscano | Artist, Researcher & Designer https://mhtoscano.com/Manifesto Manifesto Concept, Animation &amp; Illustrations for the manifesto of futurist woman written in 1912 by Valentine de Saint – Point “Woman who retains man through her tears and her sentimentality is inferior to the prostitute who incites her man, through braggery, to retain his domination over the lower depths of the cities with his revolver at the ready: at least she cultivates an energy that could serve better causes.”“Enough women who create children just for themselves, keeping them from any danger or adventure, that is, any joy; keeping their daughter from love and their son from war! … Enough of those women, the octopuses of the hearth, whose tentacles exhaust men’s blood and make children anemic” Featured in Idn Magazine <img width="2560" height="1700" width_o="2560" height_o="1700" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/031c89632429bd0efe05668208e78fff4cd59f7f746a93abe6294f23874e9648/Manifesto_Preview_012x.jpg" data-mid="144824663" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/031c89632429bd0efe05668208e78fff4cd59f7f746a93abe6294f23874e9648/Manifesto_Preview_012x.jpg" /> <img width="2400" height="2400" width_o="2400" height_o="2400" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6035c18f904658a6cbc0d762005300d75c35d6697ac1a61b571e4036f145773e/2-2400x2400.png" data-mid="144824805" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/6035c18f904658a6cbc0d762005300d75c35d6697ac1a61b571e4036f145773e/2-2400x2400.png" /> <img width="2400" height="2400" width_o="2400" height_o="2400" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/15c0e16f2736c205c1a57c2e96e8d9bc55a52ba5fb0a052853acdb1c20b60190/1-2400x2400.png" data-mid="144824806" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/15c0e16f2736c205c1a57c2e96e8d9bc55a52ba5fb0a052853acdb1c20b60190/1-2400x2400.png" /> <img width="3840" height="2261" width_o="3840" height_o="2261" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/50c098dda5d7a925150fabda9cd6c42cb6562be16aa09e1549b09d207018d806/Manifesto_Preview_052x.jpg" data-mid="144825093" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/50c098dda5d7a925150fabda9cd6c42cb6562be16aa09e1549b09d207018d806/Manifesto_Preview_052x.jpg" /><img width="3840" height="2160" width_o="3840" height_o="2160" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/91848976ccdf3cea14fdb6e5a33610ab403befec6d8ed4da2a50df5a4c4736e1/Manifesto_Preview_032x.jpg" data-mid="144824844" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/91848976ccdf3cea14fdb6e5a33610ab403befec6d8ed4da2a50df5a4c4736e1/Manifesto_Preview_032x.jpg" /> <img width="1500" height="2120" width_o="1500" height_o="2120" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b3f25c92b678d52a7d1b45a71cfd2bed6484d65441408fe7f01993d0687aa2b2/MIA-04.jpeg" data-mid="144825151" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b3f25c92b678d52a7d1b45a71cfd2bed6484d65441408fe7f01993d0687aa2b2/MIA-04.jpeg" /> <img width="1500" height="2120" width_o="1500" height_o="2120" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/36cd62443f323a65a78bf7c7114e4acbc05755a2793b63e9483fef950d0f52b0/MIA2-13.jpeg" data-mid="144825189" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/36cd62443f323a65a78bf7c7114e4acbc05755a2793b63e9483fef950d0f52b0/MIA2-13.jpeg" /> https://mhtoscano.com/Wet-Paper Tue, 07 Jun 2022 14:55:53 +0000 Maria Helena Toscano | Artist, Researcher & Designer https://mhtoscano.com/Wet-Paper Wet Paper Smells After (2) Days I invited the artist, Tomás Eyzaguirre, to my studio (the []) to have a physical confrontation with the publication Die Hasen Stunde.&nbsp; Once the idea of using water and his body was agreed, the experiment started with a tarot reading session by the artisty. Providing him with an artificial framework gave me another opportunity to examine and research the artist and to create a collaborative piece. The result of this performative experiment was a documentation consisting of a 12 page booklet, showing the process and observations, a set of 120mm photographies and a bag of morphed newspapers used at an exhibition. The nature of this exercise was meant to to create an after life for his images and to transform their meaning. <img width="2000" height="1297" width_o="2000" height_o="1297" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/293e4019935eb314294e669e3f3b55d65188ac4a29dc65066d713382376c622d/HS_Experiment_232x.jpg" data-mid="144786398" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/293e4019935eb314294e669e3f3b55d65188ac4a29dc65066d713382376c622d/HS_Experiment_232x.jpg" /> <img width="3500" height="2608" width_o="3500" height_o="2608" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3281727b6a74d0bbc4d57ff7f09f2c98d07ccbc2fc283856b5ef4bab767c69ce/HS_Experiment_312x.jpg" data-mid="144787670" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/3281727b6a74d0bbc4d57ff7f09f2c98d07ccbc2fc283856b5ef4bab767c69ce/HS_Experiment_312x.jpg" /><img width="3200" height="1800" width_o="3200" height_o="1800" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a81db424e8eff9d635e2e22c4b73f6c30e85c5f7f0de3a2b63a7b867c9bb19ce/HS_Experiment_282x.jpg" data-mid="144788959" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a81db424e8eff9d635e2e22c4b73f6c30e85c5f7f0de3a2b63a7b867c9bb19ce/HS_Experiment_282x.jpg" /> <img width="3000" height="2235" width_o="3000" height_o="2235" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b24d5cf79b935fdb9814765f5225c2f9508311f2b8c6bc97854361f91340d371/HS_Experiment_322x.jpg" data-mid="144817821" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b24d5cf79b935fdb9814765f5225c2f9508311f2b8c6bc97854361f91340d371/HS_Experiment_322x.jpg" /> <img width="3000" height="2235" width_o="3000" height_o="2235" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d8910e3fe5cfc75480145f2f89d6a7611b2b17449da8a7e61735a87b83235ce1/HS_Experiment_332x.jpg" data-mid="144817830" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/d8910e3fe5cfc75480145f2f89d6a7611b2b17449da8a7e61735a87b83235ce1/HS_Experiment_332x.jpg" /> <img width="4000" height="2250" width_o="4000" height_o="2250" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/048b568921eacf6b0d17143f707c80e2dea0f0fde12a62d684744033feca20e9/Portfolio_Royal_Academy.jpg" data-mid="144789026" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/048b568921eacf6b0d17143f707c80e2dea0f0fde12a62d684744033feca20e9/Portfolio_Royal_Academy.jpg" /> <img width="1900" height="1019" width_o="1900" height_o="1019" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/2bef61b6dfa3a214618df0416f7e4468554532ec24249b2e4db0000281ed3f26/HS_Experiment_212x.jpg" data-mid="144818302" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/2bef61b6dfa3a214618df0416f7e4468554532ec24249b2e4db0000281ed3f26/HS_Experiment_212x.jpg" /> <img width="1500" height="2000" width_o="1500" height_o="2000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/11b189204045aae7c8984849b10855f7b1d9639587ce1334e74d741e3bb47ade/HS_Experiment_222x.jpg" data-mid="145591876" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/11b189204045aae7c8984849b10855f7b1d9639587ce1334e74d741e3bb47ade/HS_Experiment_222x.jpg" /> <img width="3000" height="2235" width_o="3000" height_o="2235" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/5985a826ff613a481b533009b7025e55a5af1e7125811e4883126e65fa59c409/HS_Experiment_362x.jpg" data-mid="145591858" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/5985a826ff613a481b533009b7025e55a5af1e7125811e4883126e65fa59c409/HS_Experiment_362x.jpg" /> https://mhtoscano.com/Forest-Echos Fri, 23 Jan 2026 17:15:22 +0000 Maria Helena Toscano | Artist, Researcher & Designer https://mhtoscano.com/Forest-Echos Sonic Offering: Forest Echos - Transmission II Forest Echoes is a speculative, sound-based ecological project that approaches the Amazon rainforest as a sentient, remembering entity. The work proposes sound and offering as a ritual medium for cross-species and cross-temporal communication, seeking to counter extractivist logics through gestures of return rather than extraction. Ritual here functions as a way of reaffirming identity—between human and forest, past and present, loss and resilience. The project began as a speculative ecological intervention through sound. As preliminary research, I collected recordings of endangered and displaced species, reintroducing these lost sonic traces back into the forest. Guided by the forest’s own offering gestures and manifestations, the rhythm and form of the work emerged from attentiveness to natural processes. The recordings were played through a container conceived as both transmitter and offering. Its form responds to natural shapes and gestural expressions of giving observed within the forest. In parallel, these recordings were integrated into a live modular synthesis system incorporating a bioelectrical interface that translates plant electrical activity into sound modulation. Through this process, the forest actively shapes and transforms its own sonic traces. The modular system operates through interconnected lines: patch connections that carry electrical signals and weave relationships between sound, plant activity, and memory. Rooted in ancestral cosmologies and speculative ecology, Forest Echoes draws on an acoustemological approach—understanding sound as a way of knowing and relating to the world. The project explores sonic memory activation as a means of accessing ecological knowledge held within the land, extending beyond human recollection into shared, more-than-human temporalities. <img width="4000" height="2667" width_o="4000" height_o="2667" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d573df8f0586183019dfb3835d41cd256d5dbe8b059fe0191f59719b5da433cd/Maria-Helena-Toscano-Forest-Echos_01.jpg" data-mid="243894753" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/d573df8f0586183019dfb3835d41cd256d5dbe8b059fe0191f59719b5da433cd/Maria-Helena-Toscano-Forest-Echos_01.jpg" /> <img width="4000" height="2667" width_o="4000" height_o="2667" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/caadf9436a02ea9e89254f87eaf4fcb90f00c76e13dd10443a0cd521869fb00c/Maria-Helena-Toscano-Forest-Echos_04.jpg" data-mid="243894785" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/caadf9436a02ea9e89254f87eaf4fcb90f00c76e13dd10443a0cd521869fb00c/Maria-Helena-Toscano-Forest-Echos_04.jpg" /> <img width="2500" height="3455" width_o="2500" height_o="3455" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c1e9b1e343380183857eef6133a4d10c8069df9e6ff6b62c59260a5f7e3da175/Maria-Helena-Toscano-Forest-Echos_02.jpg" data-mid="243894787" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c1e9b1e343380183857eef6133a4d10c8069df9e6ff6b62c59260a5f7e3da175/Maria-Helena-Toscano-Forest-Echos_02.jpg" /> <img width="3000" height="4500" width_o="3000" height_o="4500" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d4b33a53ca740b2dae1bc0621e7225be4a36905f5f2ecb04e90f497bd2ee9d9c/Maria-Helena-Toscano-Forest-Echos_05.jpg" data-mid="243894893" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/d4b33a53ca740b2dae1bc0621e7225be4a36905f5f2ecb04e90f497bd2ee9d9c/Maria-Helena-Toscano-Forest-Echos_05.jpg" /> Documentation during my time in the residency LabVerde Image Credits: ©Christian Braga by Labverde https://mhtoscano.com/Revolt Tue, 31 May 2022 14:08:56 +0000 Maria Helena Toscano | Artist, Researcher & Designer https://mhtoscano.com/Revolt GLASS Speaks in five (5) different tongues. This project explores release through performance, with glass as its central material. Inspired by psychodrama methods, emotional charges are infused into a glass sculpture, which is then broken with a hammer, ground through a repetitive action, and blended into a green smoothie. The remains are finally buried. Anyone can become the protagonist, working through their own inner conflicts. The project resulted in a participatory performance, its documentation, and a method, developed in collaboration with psychoanalyst and sound artist. <img width="2020" height="2012" width_o="2020" height_o="2012" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/661a3b77795b8198a41214bcd55ffe35d152a6cc598e8f55764c92edd6e3a98f/Revolt_022x.jpg" data-mid="144152857" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/661a3b77795b8198a41214bcd55ffe35d152a6cc598e8f55764c92edd6e3a98f/Revolt_022x.jpg" /> <img width="2020" height="2012" width_o="2020" height_o="2012" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/025b696929986c3e138fc091a11a478ac36510dd8f7957bc995ddafef0a31569/Revolt_012x.jpg" data-mid="144152749" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/025b696929986c3e138fc091a11a478ac36510dd8f7957bc995ddafef0a31569/Revolt_012x.jpg" /> <img width="8000" height="1002" width_o="8000" height_o="1002" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/5073a9e1fab1e08556a1e515ecaf8cd2343c21ed19b7dc10387b3fb7c30808c8/Revolt_062x.jpg" data-mid="144773042" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/5073a9e1fab1e08556a1e515ecaf8cd2343c21ed19b7dc10387b3fb7c30808c8/Revolt_062x.jpg" /> <img width="3500" height="3859" width_o="3500" height_o="3859" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/89f752f592051d5472a492366be17d1266341b4b22ad7b319142ed8620700f14/Revolt_Pages032x.jpg" data-mid="144773635" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/89f752f592051d5472a492366be17d1266341b4b22ad7b319142ed8620700f14/Revolt_Pages032x.jpg" /> <img width="3500" height="3859" width_o="3500" height_o="3859" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4705a73698292aa3d8c6b4ff68e5562fa8438016f9cbcb1e3c409b0ad6966359/Revolt_Pages022x.jpg" data-mid="144773597" border="0" 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data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b00bea41017065e3a4592780e4e17564a6a500532301d5cf2594d2715f03bcf2/Revolt_Pages072x.jpg" data-mid="144773655" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b00bea41017065e3a4592780e4e17564a6a500532301d5cf2594d2715f03bcf2/Revolt_Pages072x.jpg" /> <img width="3500" height="3859" width_o="3500" height_o="3859" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/fe5124462c634c2a4cfb8a01adda64ebf35a775e8b9fee0d9a084756fdbd0b78/Revolt_Pages012x.jpg" data-mid="144773567" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/fe5124462c634c2a4cfb8a01adda64ebf35a775e8b9fee0d9a084756fdbd0b78/Revolt_Pages012x.jpg" /> <img width="3500" height="3859" width_o="3500" height_o="3859" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/37da630f78eabf2f2025faec497d54d646d2e8fb85bcb9cf2a75bc34c91231b7/Revolt_Pages082x.jpg" data-mid="144774024" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/37da630f78eabf2f2025faec497d54d646d2e8fb85bcb9cf2a75bc34c91231b7/Revolt_Pages082x.jpg" /> <img width="3500" height="3859" width_o="3500" height_o="3859" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f45c529eaf0d2ce71aa70e1d074fb2c0144ca0b49b15d1d2dea228e9c10616a5/Revolt_Pages062x.jpg" data-mid="144773862" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f45c529eaf0d2ce71aa70e1d074fb2c0144ca0b49b15d1d2dea228e9c10616a5/Revolt_Pages062x.jpg" /> <img width="3841" height="2161" width_o="3841" height_o="2161" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/2c9f7d8e45f7dfa6e52002edb7c86c5c2d7ba60439f3c89f7bfd5b8e04502d16/Revolt_072x.jpg" data-mid="144773122" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/2c9f7d8e45f7dfa6e52002edb7c86c5c2d7ba60439f3c89f7bfd5b8e04502d16/Revolt_072x.jpg" /> https://mhtoscano.com/About Mon, 30 May 2022 13:56:06 +0000 Maria Helena Toscano | Artist, Researcher & Designer https://mhtoscano.com/About <img width="2000" height="1333" width_o="2000" height_o="1333" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/1f75f7c541c8c31c2cb9a8a97d8533990eb657149b475969d55bf05c75d57449/HSD_022x.jpg" data-mid="146080152" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/1f75f7c541c8c31c2cb9a8a97d8533990eb657149b475969d55bf05c75d57449/HSD_022x.jpg" /> Maria Helena Toscano is a Venezuelan-Colombian multidisciplinary artist, researcher, and designer whose practice is rooted in the ecological and political contexts of Latin America, both contemporary and historical, and shaped by her lived experience as an ever-present immigrant navigating multiple geographies. Working across ritual, video, performance, installation, sound, sculpture, and mixed media, Toscano investigates extractivism, migration, displacement, and cognitive justice. Her projects emphasize experimental processes activated by sound and informed by research, metaphor, and her immediate surroundings. She engages with the contrasts between urban landscapes, nature, bodies, and histories, treating color, echo, and rhythm as active fields of memory and transformation. For Toscano, BONDING operates as a guiding methodology—material, ecological, energetic, and molecular—as a way of rebuilding and strengthening her relationship with nature. Through this, her work becomes a mechanism for healing loss, illuminating and dissecting her own lived experience of rupture, migration, and continuity, while opening space for other worlds. Influenced by thinkers from the global south such as Gloria Anzaldúa, Walter Mignolo, and Davi Kopenawa, Toscano engages with decolonial and border thinking, mestiza consciousness, epistemodiversity, and ancestral cosmologies. She examines the coloniality of knowledge and the uprooting of beliefs, memories, and cultural extractions buried in the soil. Her practice connects experimental craft practices with speculative futures, exploring sonic memory, reconfigured territories, and new forms of offering. Toscano often works with diasporic and discarded materials, selected for their conceptual resonance and geographical footprint. Through reconfiguration, her sculptural and installation work exposes the asymmetries of global circulation and the choreography of extraction and commodification. By reactivating materials deemed obsolete, she resists the logic of disposability and creates openings for reflection on consumption, value, and offering. Her practice embraces plant-thinking methodologies—even in relation to inanimate matter—and incorporates both offerings as material language and places of transit between the visible and invisible. <img width="2000" height="2999" width_o="2000" height_o="2999" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/642b305d4c068440d1ccd538132aa0b510ae4061898255ec2ca9877d465127a1/Maria-Helena-Toscano.jpg" data-mid="241259143" border="0" data-scale="47" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/642b305d4c068440d1ccd538132aa0b510ae4061898255ec2ca9877d465127a1/Maria-Helena-Toscano.jpg" /> Maria Helena ToscanoLives and works in London and BerlinEducation 2025 &nbsp;&nbsp; Modular Synthesis for Live Performance and Composition, Berlin School of Sound, Berlin, DE 2024 &nbsp;&nbsp; MA Contemporary Art Practice, Royal College of Art, London, UK 2023&nbsp; &nbsp; Graduate Diploma in Fine Art, Royal College of Art, London, UK 2012&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;MA Media and Audiovisual Production, Aalborg University Esbjerg &amp; Hochschule Ostwestfalen-Lippe DK/DE 2007&nbsp; &nbsp; BA Communication Design, Instituto de Diseño de Caracas, Caracas, VE Exhibitions 2026 &nbsp;&nbsp; Keeping Things Whole, Brixton House, Presented by CASA,&nbsp; London, UK2026 &nbsp;&nbsp; Personal Preference, Thames-Side Studios Gallery, London, UK 2026&nbsp; &nbsp; Peluche Express, Somers Gallery, London, UK 2026&nbsp; &nbsp; Collectivism x Cellulite, The Bomb Factory, London, UK 2026&nbsp; &nbsp; Soft Mechanics, FILET London, London, UK2025&nbsp; &nbsp; 14th Art Auction, Weserhalle, Berlin, DE2025&nbsp; &nbsp; THE SIGNAL. THE NOISE, Greatorex Street, London, UK2025&nbsp; &nbsp; Uprooted: Ghosts &amp; the Bleaching of Roots, Ventana Project, Berlin, DE 2025&nbsp; &nbsp; Ambient Fields, The Goodroom, Berlin, DE 2025&nbsp; &nbsp; OUTBOUND, Galeria Objects, London, UK 2024&nbsp; &nbsp; ONE EXTENDED MEDITATION, Copeland Gallery, London, UK 2024&nbsp; &nbsp; RIPPLES, Hypha studios, Sugar House Island, London, UK 2024&nbsp; &nbsp; Contemporary Art Practice MA Graduation Show, Royal College of Art, London, UK 2024&nbsp; &nbsp; Occult Surge, Moosey Gallery Hoxton, London, UK 2024&nbsp; &nbsp; Traveling Memories, The Modern Showroom Shoreditch, London, UK 2024&nbsp; &nbsp; William Blake and Conflict: Beyond Borders and Forms, Queen’s College, Cambridge, UK2024&nbsp; &nbsp; The Regenerative Power of War in the Arts, The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK2024&nbsp; &nbsp; The CAPiverse: Towards Levitation, TATE Modern, London, UK 2024&nbsp; &nbsp; Welcome to the UK, Ugly Duck, London, UK 2024&nbsp; &nbsp; Rites &amp; Rituals, Safehouse 1, Peckham, London, UK 2023&nbsp; &nbsp; Prophecy of Future Extinctions, CAP Space Gallery, RCA Battersea, London, UK 2023&nbsp; &nbsp; ACROSS &amp; OVER. Royal College of Art, HSBC HQ, Canary Wharf, London, UK 2023&nbsp; &nbsp; Perspectives on Queer Hedonism, Club Silly, Brixton, London, UK 2023&nbsp; &nbsp; Last Night Collective Vol 1: Quintesenti, W1 Curates Studios, London, UK 2023&nbsp; &nbsp; Exhibition Poor.img. Royal College of Art, The MediaWorks, London, UK 2021&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Co-Curation. Die Hasen Stunde, White Rectangle [] Berlin, DE Selected Performances 2025&nbsp; &nbsp; Carbon Bonds &amp; Fishing Spirits at the Crater, GeoPark, Nysiros, GR2025&nbsp; &nbsp; Activation at Uprooted: Ghosts &amp; the Bleaching of Roots, Ventana Project, U8 Gesundbrunnen, Berlin, DE 2024&nbsp; &nbsp; Sound intervention at Murmurings of No-Man’s Land installation, Copeland Gallery, London, UK 2024&nbsp; &nbsp; Cacerolazo Aunar, Copeland Gallery, London, UK 2024&nbsp; &nbsp; The Shell &amp; The Root II, Hypha studios, Sugar House Island, London, UK 2024&nbsp; &nbsp; The Shell &amp; The Root I, Royal College of Art, London, UK 2024&nbsp; &nbsp; Welcome to the UK, Ugly Duck, London, UK 2022&nbsp; &nbsp; The Body Weight of Passports, Site-specific, Brike Lane, London, UK 2021&nbsp; &nbsp; GLASS Speaks in five (5) different tongues, White Rectangle [] Berlin, DE Residencies &amp; Research Programmes2027 &nbsp;&nbsp; Upcoming -&nbsp;MAXmachina, New York, US2026 &nbsp;&nbsp; Listening Futures, The Listening Academy, Berlin, DE 2025 &nbsp;&nbsp; Speculative Ecologies, LabVerde, Amazon, BR Awards / Grants 2026&nbsp; &nbsp; Supported by Venturenauten2025&nbsp; &nbsp; Supported by Venturenauten 2024&nbsp; &nbsp; Eaton Trust Fund Grant 2023&nbsp; &nbsp; Royal College of Art. Study Costs Bursary Scholarship 2022&nbsp; &nbsp; Winner in Latin American Design Awards 2019&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Winner in Latin American Design Awards 2018&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Nominated in awwwards Curatorial Projects &amp; Artist Talks2026&nbsp; &nbsp; Collectivism x Cellulite, The Bomb Factory, London, UK2024&nbsp; &nbsp; Artist talk at ONE EXTENDED MEDITATION, Copeland Gallery, London, UK 2024&nbsp; &nbsp; RIPPLES, Hypha studios, Sugar House Island, London, UK2024&nbsp; &nbsp; Artist talk at The Regenerative Power of War in the Arts, The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK2021&nbsp; &nbsp; Die Hasen Stunde, White Rectangle [] Berlin, DE Publications 2027 &nbsp;&nbsp; "WE CAN GROW HERE, just watch out for winter" in Listening Futures, Errant Bodies Press, Berlin, DE2026 &nbsp;&nbsp; “Sonic Offering”, in&nbsp;Speculative Ecologies, LabVerde, Amazon, BR 2023 &nbsp;&nbsp; “The Body Weight of Passports”, in&nbsp;RCA X HSBC Across &amp; Over Exhibition, London, UK 2023 &nbsp;&nbsp; “America”, in&nbsp;Sampler 87,&nbsp;Royal College of Art, London, UK 2023 &nbsp;&nbsp; “Male Abortion” , in&nbsp;Posters can help, Slanted Publishers,&nbsp;Karlsruhe, DE 2022&nbsp; &nbsp; Maria Helena Toscano, GLASS Speaks in five (5) different tongues, Berlin, DE 2021 &nbsp; &nbsp; Maria Helena Toscano, Wet Paper Smells After Two (2) Days, Berlin, DE 2021&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Co-authorship: Die Hasen Stunde. Nr.01 (The Hour of the Hare), Berlin, DE 2019&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;DC, in&nbsp;Visual Harmony, Send Points publishing house,&nbsp;Guangzhou,&nbsp;CN Featured 2019&nbsp; &nbsp; Featured in Behance, Motion Served 2017&nbsp; &nbsp; Featured in Idn World Selected Professional Experience 2019-&nbsp; &nbsp; Iconic Consulting Ltd, Creative Partner, Creative Director &amp; Concept Developer, London, UK 2019-&nbsp; &nbsp; ST. Oberholz Consulting GmbH, Brand Activist, Creative Direction and Spatial Visual Systems, Berlin, DE 2016&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Scholz &amp; Friends GmbH, Art Director; Motion graphics &amp; Concept Developer, Berlin, DE 2015&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;BLITZEN GmbH, Art Director; Motion graphics &amp; Audiovisual Production, Berlin, DE 2012&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Iconic Consulting GmbH, Graphic Designer &amp; Motion Graphics, Berlin, DE https://mhtoscano.com/Monsters Sat, 28 May 2022 09:24:08 +0000 Maria Helena Toscano | Artist, Researcher & Designer https://mhtoscano.com/Monsters Continued Possession - Monsters Alphabet In my daily work as a designer, I often need to print and test various artworks before sending them for production. However, this process generated a lot of waste in the form of paper cut-out frames. In an effort to reduce waste, I started collecting them. Over time, I began using them to create collages in an intuitive process, allowing the given shapes to guide me. As I played with the digitalised images of these collages, I started seeing faces in them. This inspired me to take the collages to the next level and create an alphabet of monsters, along with an abstract visual language. By re-contextualising the collages, I was able to turn them into objects in a new piece of work - for example, the eyes of a big monster. To keep track of my creations, I started cataloguing them in a digital booklet. What once started as a way to reduce waste in my daily work as a designer, became a new form of creative expression that I could explore and develop further. <img width="3750" height="2490" width_o="3750" height_o="2490" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/fd8c9bfbe87efe94d1fd0fe71c38b658d39b9cd55d91f7c8d6bfb0b6d451e217/Monsters_122x.jpg" data-mid="144019659" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/fd8c9bfbe87efe94d1fd0fe71c38b658d39b9cd55d91f7c8d6bfb0b6d451e217/Monsters_122x.jpg" /> <img width="2500" height="1660" width_o="2500" height_o="1660" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b1e323d429938580e9d8c36d2e94a9ade557d10d68c0757305b7d607d0537226/Monsters_072x.jpg" data-mid="144019481" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b1e323d429938580e9d8c36d2e94a9ade557d10d68c0757305b7d607d0537226/Monsters_072x.jpg" /> <img width="2500" height="1660" width_o="2500" height_o="1660" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/283cd4cfb6f4646d63fe0c95728756c9e1f0f800527a099fba1d1cb800d1a10b/Monsters_062x.jpg" data-mid="144019480" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/283cd4cfb6f4646d63fe0c95728756c9e1f0f800527a099fba1d1cb800d1a10b/Monsters_062x.jpg" /> <img width="2800" height="1867" width_o="2800" height_o="1867" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d3fa5bb4bb9e57ad88af2d2f067afbe84a8a2b523536983333551d130e445859/Monsters_09_Small2x.jpg" data-mid="144019612" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/d3fa5bb4bb9e57ad88af2d2f067afbe84a8a2b523536983333551d130e445859/Monsters_09_Small2x.jpg" /> <img width="3750" height="2490" width_o="3750" height_o="2490" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a7d11d4d12850e1e1c29444272aa30294e1a293272c061c3b4e9f646ab5c9d1e/Monsters_152x.jpg" data-mid="144019721" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a7d11d4d12850e1e1c29444272aa30294e1a293272c061c3b4e9f646ab5c9d1e/Monsters_152x.jpg" />