Elsa Mora, a multimedia artist with roots in Cuba and a base in New York, has captivated audiences with her intricate paper art pieces. Her work, which delves into themes of identity, connectivity, and survival, is a testament to the expressive power of paper as a medium for artistic expression. Mora’s creations are not just visually stunning; they are imbued with personal significance and philosophical questions about isolation, individualism, and the chaos that can arise from disjointed positions.
Her fascination with the brain and its complexities, partly stemming from personal experiences with mental illness in her family, is reflected in her art, drawing parallels between the malleability of paper and the human mind. Through her papier découpé, Mora invites viewers to contemplate transformation, reinvention, and the intricate workings of our inner selves.
My work reflects on universal issues of identity, connectivity, and survival. Through a variety of mediums, I explore philosophical questions associated with isolation, individualism, and disjointed positions as originators of chaos. For the last few years, I have been fascinated by the expressive quality of paper, an unassuming material that I see as a metaphor for transformation and reinvention. Since my childhood, I have also been fascinated by the brain and its intricacies. The fact that some members of my family suffer from mental illnesses made me want to understand the mysteries of an organ that rules a great part of human behavior. My latest work, mostly using paper, associates the versatility of that material with the malleability of the brain.
Elsa Mora