Gloria Florez grew up between Colombia and Australia, two landscapes that could not be more different, yet both shaped her sense of what the natural world means and what we stand to lose. She is a visual and installation artist based in Sydney, working across printmaking, papermaking, eco dye, eco printing, textile and installation.
As a child in Colombia, Gloria would help her grandmother make tortillas by hand while listening to her religious stories. Her grandmother did much weaving of linen, tablecloths and beautifully detailed quilts. Now that she has passed on, Gloria realises the significant influence she had on her artworks. Memories of her grandmother and childhood have shaped her practice today, especially her use of ancient techniques to transform natural fibres into handmade papers and natural dyes, as well as her exploration of sustainable printing techniques.
Her practice grew out of a fascination with making, with what paper actually is, what it can hold, what happens when you press a leaf or a branch directly into its surface and let it leave a mark. This led her to the ancient papel amate tradition in Mexico, to Kombucha SCOBY as a living printmaking medium and eventually to an MFA at the University of Sydney. But the real shift came through an audience member's response to Web of Being, a quiet remark that made her understand art could be something more than protest. It could be protection.
In 2019 she founded Forest Ambassadors, a project that has since taken her to forests in the Blue Mountains, California, Taiwan and Bundanon, always working alongside local communities, always listening before making. The project carries a Manual of Kindness, a growing collection of messages from children, scientists, First Nations Elders and strangers and an installation of large fibre structures that grows with every forest visited.
Gloria's aspiration is to continue developing Forest Ambassadors abroad, sharing and learning from others, evolving a vision of sustainability and profound respect for the natural world as a way of living. It is her intention to return to university for a PhD, not yet, but at the right moment, when sufficient knowledge, connections and wisdom have been gathered through Forest Ambassadors to truly further and share this philosophy with others.
As a child in Colombia, Gloria would help her grandmother make tortillas by hand while listening to her religious stories. Her grandmother did much weaving of linen, tablecloths and beautifully detailed quilts. Now that she has passed on, Gloria realises the significant influence she had on her artworks. Memories of her grandmother and childhood have shaped her practice today, especially her use of ancient techniques to transform natural fibres into handmade papers and natural dyes, as well as her exploration of sustainable printing techniques.
Her practice grew out of a fascination with making, with what paper actually is, what it can hold, what happens when you press a leaf or a branch directly into its surface and let it leave a mark. This led her to the ancient papel amate tradition in Mexico, to Kombucha SCOBY as a living printmaking medium and eventually to an MFA at the University of Sydney. But the real shift came through an audience member's response to Web of Being, a quiet remark that made her understand art could be something more than protest. It could be protection.
In 2019 she founded Forest Ambassadors, a project that has since taken her to forests in the Blue Mountains, California, Taiwan and Bundanon, always working alongside local communities, always listening before making. The project carries a Manual of Kindness, a growing collection of messages from children, scientists, First Nations Elders and strangers and an installation of large fibre structures that grows with every forest visited.
Gloria's aspiration is to continue developing Forest Ambassadors abroad, sharing and learning from others, evolving a vision of sustainability and profound respect for the natural world as a way of living. It is her intention to return to university for a PhD, not yet, but at the right moment, when sufficient knowledge, connections and wisdom have been gathered through Forest Ambassadors to truly further and share this philosophy with others.
