This month at the gallery, Brasilian visual artist Silvana Soriano explores takes the medium of visual art and transcends language in her representations of idioms, metaphors, sayings and stories by presenting them as literal as can be, playing with the mixtures of cultures and narratives given through words. .

The exhibition, which carries the same name as Soriano’s series, interrogates the boundaries of the cultural and visual qualities of history, aesthetics, and humor—because fine art and adventure aren’t mutually exclusive. Ipsis Litteris translates to “word for word,” as a play on the pieces’ quite literal portrayal of their meaning.

This portrayal carries through in pieces like Wear Another Shoes (pictured), named for the English phrase “to put yourself in someone else’s shoes” displayed in the literal sense via its humorous imagery, until the realization that even the character is pondering how they feel about the shoes in their show of emotion. The thought that even the character themselves debates this gendered contraction between the heels and shoes brings forth yet another layer to the discussion, from what normally seems as light-hearted a piece as the next.

Curated by Gabriel Torres.