Jet-te-L. Ranning
"Tevere"

23/10/2024

In this series, I pay tribute to the wild, autonomous plants - the weeds - that grow along the banks of the Tiber (Tevere) river in Rome. These plants are the true outcasts and the lowest tier in the plant hierarchy. They receive no care, are trampled underfoot, and endure the indignity of being urinated on by dogs. Yet, they persist solely through their own strength and resilience, fiercely asserting their right to exist and thrive. As I walk along the river, I document their growth. I draw them in flat silhouette shapes, or capture their shadow with help of the sunlight. By bringing these humble plants into my artistic practice, I elevate their unnoticed existence into abstract, painterly spaces - fields of color, patterns of lines, and organic shapes. I leave their natural imperfections intact - the bitten leaves, the crooked stems - because I see grace in their flaws. In their unique, rough beauty, they transform into ”divas” within my compositions. I don’t research their names or flowering seasons. I preserve the anonymity in which I encounter them on a random day during a stroll along the river.
However, the plants are no more important than the spaces they occupy in the paintings. The relationship between the plant’s form and the abstract world it inhabits is essential. The focal point of my work is the interplay between figuration and abstraction. It is within this tension that the energy of the painting emerges, and the visual narrative unfolds. The colors in the “Tevere” series are collected and registered from the buildings in Trastevere - taken from houses, palaces, and churches near the river.