Four years ago, Gabriela Estrada began constructing an uncommon house: a nest with breathing walls and woven roofs, where the interior life springs from a conversation with the mountain that surrounds it. In this intimate territory, with no boundaries between the outside and the inside, nature grows freely, and personal roots intertwine with those of the land to become stronger.

In the process of envisioning her home, using her hands and establishing a connection with the earth, Gabriela realized that the feminine body of the mountain and her own exist in correspondence. Both woman and mountain are guardians of nature, which cyclically transforms them into containers and the contained: “The mountain, the house, and the womb are connected by roots and threads. The womb is the first home we inhabit, the place where we curl up. To inhabit a house, one must curl up, and to inhabit the mountain, too. The mountain is a womb; it is the sacred place where we are protected and which we must protect. The mountain, the house, and the womb are bodies and feminine beings. They are grandmothers, mothers, and daughters. We carry mountains in our wombs, and the mountain carries us from before we are born and even after death.”

Gabriela questions the nature that is mistreated as an object, exploited as a possession, and rendered invisible. Her work reflects on the various ways of inhabiting, sharing the different moments of listening she establishes with the mountain and amplifying these conversations. The ever-changing body of the mountain, essential for the continuity of life, has become fragile and finite. Conversations with the Earth is an invitation to remember and honor the place we inhabit with reciprocity.

Curated by: Daniela Marín Aristizábal