Mata Atlântica, 2018

Wiggins was an artist in residence at the Kaaysá Art Residency located in the Atlantic Forest in Brazil. While there, Wiggins integrated her long-standing practice with the I Ching, an ancient Chinese divination text, with her experiences in the beautiful and fragile environments of the Mata Atlântica.

Wiggins translated these contemplations into simple ink drawings. These drawings/meditations in turn influenced the performative photographs that she made with Brazilian photographer Fernando Lima. In two black-and-white photographs titled In Lourdina’s Garden, Wiggins appears beneath the giant Emperors Staff flower, also known as Bastão do Imperador. In the black-and-white image Beach Chair, Wiggins lies naked horizontally in a chair on the beach looking toward the horizon. Wiggins appears shrouded in a diaphanous red veil near a waterfall in the series Cascade.

The Mata Atlântica had a profound spiritual and physical impact upon Wiggins; the images in these series evoke that influence.

(photography by Fernando Lima)