Esther Bonder

Esther Bonder's work explores scenes that evoke a strong connection with nature, transcending mere representation or transposition while breaking with a romanticized view of nature itself. Her landscapes unfold from various perspectives across different geographical locations, expressed through diverse colour palettes and forms. These works engage with historical traditions but distance themselves from the Renaissance approach, where the notion of copying nature dominated. Bonder’s previous experience with Burle Marx and her work as a landscape architect are evident in her artistic practice—not only through her deep botanical knowledge but also through an almost ritualistic respect for natural elements. 

Although her creations are primarily based in painting, the artist occasionally ventures into three-dimensional works, using materials like dry branches and metal mesh to produce objects that function as expanded landscapes, pushing beyond the boundaries of the pictorial realm. Bonder’s body of work establishes an intimate relationship with the environment, aligning with the ideas of anthropologist Anna Tsing, who stresses the importance of making landscapes habitable amid the global ecological crisis.

Bonder maintains an ongoing dialogue with ecology, highlighting the interdependence between all beings and elements that constitute the world—a notion seemingly neglected since modernity, which has led us to our current critical situation. Her works inevitably prompt this reflection, supported by thinkers such as Emanuele Coccia, Ailton Krenak, and Donna Haraway. The nature that interests her is one of expressive shapes and colors, but it is not limited to mere enchantment; it is a fully living nature, connected to the movements and flows of bodies, beings, and materials that inhabit the planet’s ecosystem.

Through her art, Bonder invites us to revisit the concept of landscape, moving away from approaches that rely on domestication and instead investing in a broader field of sensitive experiences, where matter transforms and interrelates, producing metamorphoses and interconnections. Her works invite viewers to reflect on how to inhabit the world, emphasizing the urgency of recreating, through delicacy and reverence (as seen in her formal expressions), new modes of coexistence.