A personal illustration exploring migration, belonging and the quiet transformation that happens when memories, places and rituals begin to merge over time.
Created to mark the eleventh anniversary of moving from Argentina to Australia, the piece reimagines a maté as an emotional landscape where pampas and eucalyptus fields are connected through water, memory and movement.
Watercolours and coloured pencils on 300g Arches watercolour paper.
This piece began with the idea of using the mate not simply as an object, but as a container for identity and transformation.
Rather than illustrating migration literally, I wanted the landscape itself to emerge from the yerba: one side subtly inspired by the Argentine pampas, the other by Australian eucalyptus vegetation. Between them, a narrow body of water references both distance and connection.
The engraved metal rim became an important narrative device. I explored the transition between traditional geometric motifs inspired by South American textile patterns and a softer dissolution into organic dots, suggesting cultural transformation rather than separation.
Swallows appear as a recurring symbol of migration and inherited memory, inspired by a March sky shared with my mother before I moved across the world.
The colour palette intentionally avoids expected greens, instead leaning into earthy ochres, muted blue-greys and deep wine tones to create a more emotional and atmospheric interpretation of place and belonging.