Laura Lima

Caboclinho do Mato, 2023

‘Caboclinho do Mato’ draws on a figure from Brazilian folklore – a small forest-dwelling man said to be one of the guiding spirits for shamanic apprentices. According to legend, Caboclinho was once an ordinary man who consumed such an overwhelming dose of ayahuasca that he crossed fully into the spiritual realm, body and soul, without dying. In Lima’s interpretation, this mythic transformation is rendered through an intricate structure of raw cotton threads, dyed using a vast range of natural pigments: black acacia, beetroot, indigo, turmeric, chamomile, avocado seed, tobacco, red wine, and many others.

The resulting form hums with layered meaning. Organic, vibrant, and richly textured, it evokes the forest’s dense, alchemical vitality – a space of both concealment and revelation. Steel wire lends subtle structure to the woven threads, suggesting a body suspended between worlds. As with much of Lima’s work, ‘Caboclinho do Mato’ resists clear categorisation, instead offering a sensorial encounter shaped by myth, material, and the transformative potential of ritual. It invites viewers to linger in ambiguity between human and spirit, forest and body, substance and vision.