64 local life Blending painting, sculpture, and the union of elements, the work of this Geneva-born visual artist tells of the resonance between the mountains and the intimate, between the feminine and the natural world. For Mariuca Bala, art and life are inseparable. Her home studio breathes light and curiosity. “I need my workspace at home. My pieces require drying times, constant revisiting, and spontaneous gestures,” she explains. On her worktables, paint sits alongside resin, schist, gold leaf, and even moss gathered from the forest. Each material becomes a pretext for sensory exploration — an experience of touch, light, and memory. Mariuca Bala has in fact only recently taken up her paintbrush again after a thirteen-year pause — primarily to reconnect with herself. “When you become a mother, you lose yourself a little. You no longer really belong to yourself. Starting to create again felt like meeting an old friend,” she adds. This return also marks a transformation in her approach. From the figurative painting of her early years, centered on women, she has evolved toward a freer, more tactile, almost alchemical practice. LIGHT AND TRANSPARENCY Her current research focuses on light. The artist now works with plexiglass, a transparent medium that allows her to integrate light directly into her pieces. “Every time you try to hang a painting, you have to fight with the lighting. So I decided to include it in my works,” she says with a smile. Using resin to reinforce the surface while preserving its transparency, metallic pigments, gold leaf, and mineral inclusionscaptureandreflect lightdepending on the viewer’s angle. Her creations therefore shift throughout the day, revealing their depth with changing reflections. Colour becomes alive — it reveals itself through light, yet is never the same. Her art expressesadistinctly sensoryapproach,where touch, sight, smell, and even sound find their place. THE ARTIST LOVES TO REMIND VIEWERS TO DARE TO TOUCH “Since childhood, we’re told never to touch artwork. I want the opposite. I want people to feel the material — the sap, the earth, the water,” says Mariuca Bala. Some of her pieces combine eucalyptus bark and natural moss, releasing a forest fragrance with each touch. Others play with Braille, allowing fingers to read the words and trace the texture of colour. THE MOUNTAIN, MATTER, AND THE FEMININE A latearrival inValais, MariucaBala fell passionately in love with the peaks — a revelation for her. “I used to be more of a sea person than a mountain person, but when I discovered these landscapes, it was love at first sight. Schist, rock, charcoal, earth — all these natural elements became the foundations of my creations. These materials
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