the present tense

In Spanish, the verb “maternar” (roughly translated as to mother) refers to the act of caring, nurturing, creating emotional bonds, and taking responsibility for protecting a life. In its broadest sense, it goes beyond the mother-child relationship and extends to other forms of care.

The exhibition CARE: Givers and Receivers in the gallery SPAACES explores this two-way relationship, where giving and receiving are acts of trust, love, and responsibility. Caring is not a one-sided action but a reciprocal gesture that spans generations, awakens memory, and includes also our deep connection to nature.

In this exhibition, various artists use different mixed media to express, through color, shape, and texture, the many dimensions of care.

In the painting Morning routine/Braiding, Yajaira Urzua-Reyes depicts the her mother’s hand braiding her  hair when she was a child. The braids become symbols of familial and cultural ties, passed from hand to hair as a quiet act of love. A daily gesture that, crafted with attention and artistry, becomes an ornament and a symbol of love.

In It’s not too late, Samo Davis and Petra Gurin combine living nature, decomposition, and plastic materials to reflect on the possibility of a sustainable world—one we can care for rather than destroy. Their installation evokes a tree of life emerging from a green ecosystem that includes natural and artificial elements, offering hope that life finds a way despite the harm we’ve inflicted upon it. Nature appears as a life-giving force that we must care for.

Also striking are the drawings Eruption 1 and Eruption 2 by Sabrina Small, where seemingly relaxed bodies hold inner tension, like volcanoes on the verge of eruption. These works speak of the toxins we absorb in modern life and the emotional disarray caused by a world that moves faster than we can process. Both pieces emphasize self-care and the need to turn inward.

The exhibition reminds us that we all inhabit both sides of care: sometimes we are cared for, and other times we are the caregivers. That is what life is about—in all its forms.

CARE: Givers and Receivers opened on April 19, 2025, and runs through July 5 at SPAACES Gallery, located in 2051 Princeton Street, Sarasota. SPAACES is a nonprofit space for progressive contemporary art, supporting diverse artists through exhibitions, studio space, and community-focused programs.

Jesús Miguel Soto