Artist Luba Zygarewicz attacks the poetics of the Emerge gallery’s oval space, inside and out, with an installation that directly incorporates architectural elements inside the gallery and the railing along the ramp. Utilizing ritual and an abundance of daily markers—the tea bags—she explores and pushes the boundaries between inside and outside spaces as a metaphor for one’s inner life and how that visually transcribes to others.

Luba Zygarewicz, thread – el hilo de mis dias, 2012, mixed media, dimensions variable (Photo courtesy of the artist)

Artist Bio

Luba Zygarewicz was born in Chile in 1965, grew up in Bolivia, and moved to San Francisco at the age of 15. She received her BA in Visual Arts from Loyola University, New Orleans and MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute.

In 1990 Zygarewicz married and had two girls a year apart. Upon earning her MFA, the family moved back to Louisiana and has resided in Mandeville since 1998. Soon after, she had two more children adding to her sense of responsibility. She has home-schooled her children since 1996. Zygarewicz says:

“My work is informed by life situations and my daily struggle as a woman to be a wife, a mom, a teacher, and an artist.”

Thus, she gravitates to creating pieces that in time accumulate to a large whole, while daily working a bit a time with mundane materials such as her hair, lint, twigs, cotton, and paper. Drawing from a long family tradition, Zygarewicz has been experimenting with tea bags and the stain they leave behind as a sense of presence they represent while drinking endless cups of tea in the process. Text and words have become an integral part of her work.

Zygarewicz has exhibited across the United States and has received numerous awards and critical recognition for both her sculptures and installations. She recently participated in “Southern Open 2011”, at AcA, “NOLA NOW Part I: Swagger for a Lost Magnificence”, at the CAC; “Women Work Wonders” and “Brother, Can you Spare a Day“ at Staple Goods, and “thread ~ el hilo de mis dias” at AcA, Lafayette, LA.

Emerge Gallery is dedicated to site-specific works by emerging artists.

Thanks to the following for supporting the CAC’s First Floor Initiative: Best Buy, Corporate Realty, Cox Communications, Edward Wisner Donation Fund/City of New Orleans, Ella West Freeman Foundation, Greater New Orleans Foundation, Nola Paint and Supplies—Farrell~Calhoun Paint, Selley Foundation, Aimée & Mike Siegel, SPUN Cafe at CAC