ANU alumna brings Peruvian art to Australia

When artist Ximena Briceño is asked what inspires her, colour is the first thing that comes to mind.

Having grown up in the historical city of Lima, Briceño has plenty of sources to draw on – from the sherbet-stained tapestry of Peru’s rainbow mountain to kaleidoscopic markets and vibrant Andean-embroidered garments.

It’s the type of place that stays with you long after you leave – and Briceño has captured its vibrancy in her latest exhibition, Five Dresses for a Wari Goddess, at the Craft + Design Canberra Gallery.

The exhibition, which features five dresses made from titanium, aluminium, as well as, cardboard and up-cycled coffee pods, was influenced in part by the Wari, a pre-Inca civilisation, and pays homage to artists  Elena Izcue, Graziella Laffi, Silvia Lawson and fashion designer Paco Rabanne.

“I stand on the shoulders of giants from the Wari people to Paco Rabanne,” Briceño says.

“Why did I need to make dresses? Because I wanted to remember, recreate the rich imagery of the 1950s and 60s fashion in Lima, which morphed Andean iconography with a type of Fellini urban chic that was totally unique.”

The artist’s colourful work is a marriage between fashion, metalwork and electro-chemistry.

“By applying traditional metalsmithing techniques on metals such as aluminium, titanium as well as cardboard and up-cycled coffee pods the current works contribute to the dialogue of power and meaning of colour and material,” Briceño says.

“The historic metal-forming dies were made in the second part of the 20th century using traditional methods underpinning a visual aesthetic in the arts, crafts, and iconography of Peru.”

Briceño’s fascination with jewellery and metalwork led to a career in the jewellery manufacturing sector in Florida before she moved to Australia to complete her PhD in Visual Arts in the Gold and Silversmithing workshop at The Australian National University (ANU).

Along with the vibrant colours another feature of the exhibition is imagery of Peruvian alpacas, llamas and vicuñas, which are die-stamped into the dress materials.

“Growing up in Peru, the camelids are part of the landscape just as one is surrounded by kangaroos in Canberra. Flora, fauna, the light and the geography of place are as much a determinant of art as the intellect”.

“That said, [the exhibit is] somewhat of a transpacific partnership because had I not come to Canberra to study at ANU in the Gold and Silversmith workshop under Johannes Kuhnen and been inspired and encouraged by Robert Foster and FINK – this exhibit would never have happened.”