SAO PAULO.- Nara Roesler São Paulo is presenting Tellurics, a group exhibition curated by Ana Carolina Ralston that brings together 16 artists to investigate the deep force of terrestrial matter and the visceral relationships between the human body and the body of the Earth. The exhibition is grounded in the concept of telluric imagination, inspired by philosopher Gaston Bachelard, to explore how art can excavate surfaces and touch what is most dense and vibrant in nature and technology. The show proposes a shift away from an ocular-centric gaze, inviting the public to a multisensory experience that engages smell, hearing, and tactility. As the curator states, “telluric imagination always digs deep, never content with surfaces.” In Tellurics, the Earth ceases to be a passive backdrop and becomes a protagonist and political actor, transforming our ways of inhabiting the world.

The curatorial selection establishes a dialogue between historical figures of Land Art and contemporary voices, in which matter ceases to be a mere support and becomes body and voice. Richard Long represents the tradition of direct intervention in the territory, while artists such as Brígida Baltar present emblematic works like Enterrar é plantar, which reinforces cycles of life and the rebirth of matter. The exhibition also features Isaac Julien, Not Vital, and an amethyst work by Amelia Toledo, selected for its mineral and spiritual resonance. C. L. Salvaro’s installation simulates the interior of the Earth through an experimental passage of fabric and planting, evoking archaeology and memory, while Amorí presents paintings and sculptures that narrate the metamorphosis of her body and her history. Spirituality and Indigenous notions of transience are explored by Kuenan Mayu, who uses natural pigments, while Alessandro Fracta activates ancestral and ritualistic worlds through works made with jute fiber embroidery.

Sensory experience is one of the exhibition’s central pillars, guided in particular by the work of Karola Braga, whose beeswax sculptures exude natural aromas. In the gallery window, the gilded structure Perfumare releases smoke, mimicking the vapors exhaled by volcanoes, a radical expression of the planet’s capacity to transform itself, reinvent its form, and impose rhythms. Cosmology and sound are also present in Felippe Moraes’s neons, which trace constellations of earthly signs such as Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn, and in the sonic dimension of Denise Alves-Rodrigues. The journey is completed by the mobiles from Lia Chaia’s Organoide series, the imaginative landscapes of Ana Sant’anna, the material investigations of Flávia Ventura, and Felipe Góes’s inquiries into nature. Each work functions as a document of negotiation with the planet, where the ground we walk on also protests and speaks.