By Olivia Piché
“That’s the amazing thing about art: Everyone has their own experiences that they bring to it. I may be creating something, but I never know how it’ll impact others. Through the show, I got to see a little bit of that, and it was really wonderful,” she says.
Sentient Plant Allies in Alien Landscapes, Munar’s exhibition, which was hosted at Gibson Fine Art, showcased a variety of mediums. Framed paper collages hung from the walls while free-standing sculptures peppered the room and abstract aluminum cut-outs complemented the diversity of work. As part of the show, Munar shared one of her animations that featured a plant-like creature walking through a landscape made of body parts.
“A lot of people connected with that, which was really nice. I got a lot of really interesting comments from other Latin people, people living in diaspora and immigrants about how they connected with that film,” she says. Munar recalls that it even moved one woman to tears.
As a Colombian immigrant herself, Munar uses plants to find a sense of home. The title Sentient Plant Allies in Alien Landscapes represents the idea that you can connect with plants and they can become little creatures alongside you.
“The works live in a more abstract form, but people can still find connections,” she says.
Every part of the exhibition was personal to Munar. She used photos of native Colombian plants as well as plants found here in Canada, and collage fragments featured photos of her own skin.
Because of the size of Gibson Fine Art, Munar needed to create 30 pieces to fill the gallery — her biggest endeavour yet, and one that took time and money. Funding from Calgary Arts Development’s Project Grant Program helped cover some of the expenses for the framing and material costs, and it allowed Munar to take the chance and explore something new.
“I didn’t know if I could do it alone,” says Munar. “I was looking for community support, and so the grant really allowed me to be able to pursue that and to have the show. It was really exciting and a big milestone for me.”
Prior to her solo show, Munar explains she had always wanted to dive deeper into sculpture-making. The grant made it possible for her to work with a printing company to print on aluminum and go through multiple rounds of revisions to bring her vision to life.
“I wanted to pursue something new, but without financial help, it’s sometimes difficult to try new things and be innovative because it can be a lot of money,” she says. “I was able to create these sculptures, and it was really exciting because those were the most successful pieces in the show.”
The exhibition allowed Munar to explore creatively and showcase her works to great success, selling some of her works in the show. Thanks to Calgary Arts Development support, she can continue to do so. She’s already scheduled to present another exhibition in 2027.
“If I had put every single thing into this, financially, it probably wouldn’t have been possible for me to keep going and continue to make art,” she says. “Now, I hope to be able to continue to make art for many, many years.”