In Transition, Maria Torp's first solo exhibition at Alice Folker Gallery, a sensuous, colourful universe unfolds, one where people and flora intertwine with the currents of cultural and political change. With her characteristic hyperrealistic brushstrokes, Torp creates narratives about dwelling in a time of rupture and living in a world in constant motion. In a world that can feel uncertain and vulnerable, where everything trembles and dystopian visions of the future seem to have become present realities, Torp's paintings remind us of change, community, and presence.
The collage-like cardboard backdrops read as another layer within the image. Cardboard is a recurring material in Torp's practice and carries its own particular narrative: as a familiar and universally accessible everyday material, it stands in contrast to the centuries-old tradition of oil painting, pulling it toward something more grounded. Yet cardboard is not merely background. It holds an inherent strength, a toughness and resilience that allows it to bend, fold, and rise again in new forms. In Torp's hands, it becomes an image of transformation and perseverance. Figures and flowers push through the surface like dandelions through asphalt, poised in a life-affirming lightness against the raw heaviness of the cardboard.
In the works Burn and Tip Toeing, Torp goes beneath the surface of the skin and exposes the structure of the cardboard; as a gesture that echoes activist movements, in which hidden structures are drawn out into the light. In Burn, the female figure in the painting mirrors that of the artist herself: she sets the cardboard alight, and what remains is a sooted imprint - a silhouette of smoke that reveals a vacant space. In Tip Toeing, a woman has torn away the top layer of the cardboard, where the ridged skeleton of the cardboard appears as an undefined background. In Torp's work, the background insists on being more than a backdrop, the works operating across multiple layers. Nothing is fixed or fully formed: the paintings move through the world as living entities and with renewed force through their own storytelling.
In the series Flower Revolutions, Torp traces accounts behind eight different flowers, all of which have been important symbols in historical events and collective experiences. Flowers are often associated with beauty and spring. Yet throughout history, they have also been strikingly present in political upheavals. In political protests and revolutions, they have become symbols of hope, resistance, change, and identity. From the streets of Lisbon to the parliament in Taipei, flowers have been raised in the hands of protestors, placed in the barrels of rifles, or carried as signs of peaceful resistance.
In Taiwan, the sunflower became a symbol during the Sunflower Movement of 2014, when students protested against a trade agreement with China and demanded greater transparency in political decision-making. In Kyrgyzstan, the tulip came to embody the Tulip Revolution in 2005, when protests against electoral fraud led to a change of power. In Georgia in 2003, the rose likewise became a sign of peaceful resistance during the Rose Revolution, as protesters carrying flowers helped bring about the president's resignation.
In Portugal, the red carnation became an international icon during the Carnation Revolution of 1974, where civilians placed flowers in soldiers' rifles as a symbol of an almost bloodless transition to democracy. In Tunisia, the jasmine became bound, in 2010, to the popular uprising against an authoritarian regime - an event that would mark the beginning of the Arab Spring.
Elsewhere, flowers have come to carry their meaning through later interpretation. The hibiscus is today associated with Haiti and with the histories of revolution, decolonisation, and independence across many Caribbean nations, even though it did not play a role in the uprising itself. In Japan, the cherry blossom, sakura, symbolises the transience of life and is celebrated each spring as a recurring reminder of the passage of time and the importance of community. In Palestinian art and culture, the poppy appears as a symbol of both loss and persistence. Its red colour is associated with blood and conflict, while its fragile growth and capacity to take root in disturbed soil give it an abiding connection to the land.
Across time and place, the flowers emerge as bearers of historical experience and emotions. In the painting Revolution, the eight flowers are gathered in a bouquet of revolutionary community: in full bloom, they stand side by side as a monument to unrest and uprising, beauty and steadfastness - a testament to the arrival of spring and the changing of times.
Exhibition text by Mathilde Vogel
