Plantcestors is a solo exhibition by Suzy González that celebrates inspirational people in connection with the plants that give them life. The Opening Reception will be held at the San Antonio Central Library Gallery on Tuesday, February 18th from 6:00 - 8:00 pm, and an Artist Talk will be held at the Closing Reception on Saturday, March 29th, from 1:00 - 2:00pm.
Plants sustained our ancestors and they continue to sustain us—through food, medicine, clothing, housing, to providing the very oxygen we breathe. Every plant is sacred and we could not survive without them. Plantcestors depicts the portraits of artists, activists, and culture workers based in Yanaguana / San Antonio, TX that bring inspiration to the community through their art, leadership, and social justice work.
Within each painted portrait are natural plant materials that the person is connected to. The plants hold meaning based on ancestral connections, childhood memories, cultural roots, or lessons that they bring. Some enjoy the plants in their gardens, herbal practices, spirituality, as food, or for their beauty alone.
The process of creating these works includes photography, discussion, gardening, foraging, pressing, dehydrating, gluing, resining, and painting. The figures sit on the surface, in the present. Their Plantcestors are behind them but remain a part of them.
Surrounding the portraits are plant studies with materials foraged or nurtured by the artist. With both actual and painted plant elements, she references cycles of life and death, preservation and decay. Plantcestors is funded in part by the City of San Antonio Department of Arts & Culture Individual Artist Grant.
Email: suzy@suzygonzalez.com