Graciela Arias Salazar

„The rainforest is a place of magic and mysteries,
and each one perceives them in their own way.
When I paint, I try to capture my connection to the forest
and make it tangible in my works.”

The Art of Graciela Arias

Graciela Arias Salazar’s work is inseparably linked to the myths and traditions of her native Peru, which she reinterprets in a unique way. Born in 1978 in Ayacucho, she left the region with her family at the age of three. Amid the turbulences of terrorism, the family sought a new home on the Ucayali, deep in the Amazon. There she discovered her fundamental source of inspiration in the surrounding nature and culture.

Her formative memories come from this new environment in the selva, where she grew up as a true Amazon. “I observed nature as one who was wild,” she describes. “I sought the cries of the animals, watched the flutter of birds in the treetops and the slithering of snakes through the foliage.”

There she learned basic survival skills in the wilderness and developed a deep, intuitive connection to nature. This indelible experience gave her far more than practical knowledge: it awakened a spiritual understanding of the natural world, which became the core of her art.Rooted in feminine and Amazonian mythology, Graciela Arias Salazar emerges in Pucallpa as a brave chronicler of the problems in her surroundings. Her images become a powerful visual indictment.

In her work “La Virgen del Capinurí”, she illuminates the contradictions of a society that idealizes purity while exploiting the image of woman as a sexual symbol.

The choice of the capinurí – a natural vine of phallic form – allows her to boldly question this double standard and challenge the stereotypes imposed on femininity.

For the artist, the Amazonía is the protective mother, a source of well-being and ancestral wisdom. Her paintings, populated by spiritual beings in animal form and ethereal female figures, act as messengers of nature. They invite reflection on our actions and the reclaiming of an intimate, respectful relationship with the environment.

Beyond representation, Graciela Arias Salazar’s work is an act of preservation. She passionately advocates for the conservation of the selva’s traditions, cosmovision, and communal knowledge, considering them essential for cultural identity and a sustainable future.

Her art reminds us that the rainforest is not just a place, but a living memory and source of ancestral knowledge. Its loss would be ours.