Tenalach - Selva Oscura

Tenalach — Selva Oscura opens in the forest. A video prologue, filmed among the trees of Touraine, France, draws the viewer into a primal, threshold space. Tenalach is an old Irish word: the deep, wordless bond between a human being and the living land. It is a reminder of roots, of duty, of what we risk forgetting. What follows is a performance of action painting and chanting, presented at the opening of the Artivism Awards in close dialogue with the installation Tenalach. Alexandra Mas worked alongside two muses: Julio Tassini, then five years old, and Leonardo Dubois. The result is a four-metre painting made of ochre earth, feathers, black ink, and white pigment, materials that carry memory, ritual, and the weight of the earth itself.