Currents 126: Clarissa Tossin

Brazilian artist Clarissa Tossin creates work in a wide range of media, profoundly rooted in her ecological thinking and awareness of the fragility of life on Earth. This timely exhibition brings together a variety of recent and new work that showcases Tossin’s ecofeminist perspective, weaving together complex narratives of interconnectedness between the female body and the land.

Central to the exhibition is a group of large-scale monotypes entitled Piante Vagabonde (Wandering Plants), which unites imagery of plants, specifically weeds, and the human body. For Tossin, the resilience of weeds serves as a powerful example of survival at a time of catastrophic climate change and anxiety. Another series, known as Mortalhas (Shrouds), shows imprints of Tossin’s mother made from makeup foundation in poses relating to ancient fertility goddesses. Related monotypes treat the artist’s own hair as looping and coiling fiber, reimagining hair loss as a sign of bodily change with the onset of menopause.

A group of weavings also highlights Tossin’s wider textile practice. Strips of discarded Amazon boxes are recycled and interwoven with photographs of distant galaxies. Referencing basket-weaving traditions, the geometric-weave patterns begin to resemble conventional maps, offering a suggestion that photographic mapping is the first stage in the human exploration of space leading to extraction. Seen as a whole, the exhibition addresses important themes around salvage and ecology and highlights the slow and resonant labor of the human hand at a time of accelerated extraction and consumption.

Born in Porto Alegre, Clarissa Tossin grew up in Brazil. She moved to the United States around 20 years ago and currently has her studio in Los Angeles. Tossin’s work has been widely exhibited internationally including a 2025–2026 survey exhibition at Museu de Arte de São Paulo. She is recipient of the 2025–2026 Henry L. and Natalie E. Freund Fellowship, which included a residency at the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis and this exhibition.

Currents 126: Clarissa Tossin is curated by Simon Kelly, SLAM’s curator of modern and contemporary art.