SOLUTIO
"Solutio" at Feria Capital, Córdoba, Argentina, March 2026
"Solutio" was presented in September 2024 at the exhibition "La advocación de los metales" at Olivares Group Gallery in Buenos Aires. The works in this series originate from research conducted during the GlogauAir Berlin 2024 Residency.
During this residency, Isabel began developing this series, in which she reflects on the ever-evolving complexity of female identity. She explores the interaction between the unique structure of the female brain, societal norms, and the transformative impact of technology. Through a self-referential approach, she creates a body of work that not only reflects her personal experiences but also resonates with the collective consciousness of women today.
The concept of identity—and what truly defines an individual’s essence—is central to this exploration. In an era where technological advances and social changes are redefining our understanding of the “self,” it is crucial to analyze how these forces influence the construction of the female psyche. Through her work, Englebert challenges traditional roles and expectations imposed on women while highlighting the unique challenges and opportunities emerging in an era of rapid technological change.
INCORPORATING METAL
The works presented here are various experiments within the series, integrating metal and the concept of alchemy.
Incorporating metallic elements into her work allows the artist to explore themes of transformation and malleability. Just as metal can be shaped, welded, and transformed, personal identity can also be molded and reshaped by experiences and social influences. The use of metal alongside fabric symbolizes both the strength and resilience of the female spirit, as well as the ongoing process of identity formation.
The transformative nature of metal also connects with the concept of alchemy, a historical practice aimed at purification and refinement. Alchemy sought to turn base materials into gold, symbolizing a process of spiritual and personal perfection.
With its rich symbolism and transformative goals, alchemy serves as a powerful metaphor for identity development. In his work Psychology and Alchemy (1944), Carl Jung interpreted alchemy not just as a proto-scientific or mystical practice but also as a profound metaphor for the psychological process of transformation and personal growth. This process involves stages such as calcination (breaking down the old self), dissolution (letting go of previous forms), and conjunction (integrating new knowledge). These phases mirror the stages of personal growth and the continuous reconfiguration of identity.
As part of her career, Englebert designed unique jewelry pieces. The process of designing and creating jewelry allowed her to engage intimately with the transformative properties of metal, crafting pieces that symbolize both personal and collective identity. This hands-on approach adds a tangible and personal dimension to the exploration of identity, emphasizing themes of strength, resilience, and transformation.
THREADS OF IDENTITY
Video
4:13 s
"There is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind"
Virginia Wolf
Throughout the series, the artist uses her own worn clothing as the primary medium, embedding each piece with a deeply personal and intimate narrative. These garments, imprinted with the traces of her lived experiences, serve as a metaphor for the layers of social conditioning and personal identity that shape the female experience. By manipulating, and reassembling these materials, she seeks to craft a visual language that expresses the fluidity and complexity of the female psyche.
In this video, she deconstructs these garments she once wore while reflecting on feminine identity. Drawing from Virginia Woolf’s quote, she parallels the act of unsewing with her own emotional experience as a woman. At times, the stitches hide like the roots of societal mandates, making them difficult to discern; sometimes the stitching is so tight it leaves marks on her hands, and at others, frustration leads her to tear through the seams.
She incorporates recordings of her own brainwaves to convey unspoken thoughts and sensations. This element provides an intimate glimpse into her mind, adding depth to the narrative and allowing viewers to engage with the invisible and internal aspects of identity and thought processes.
CONJUNCTION
Fabric, metal
150 x 100 cm
In "Conjunction", the artist explores the metaphor of self-construction through identity, using different parts of her dismantled garments to design a new morphology. The various textures, layers, and overlaps within the composition symbolize the multiple facets and depths of identity.
In this work, the artist incorporates an element and process she has previously used in another series: the analysis and recording of her brain waves. Using a device that measures brain waves, she recorded her own while unsewing her garments. This action is inspired by Virginia Woolf and her quote: "No lock, no bolt, no barrier can imprison the freedom of my mind." By unsewing her clothes, the artist seeks to symbolize the deconstruction of an identity shaped by societal mandates, while simultaneously reflecting on the nature of identity itself.
The artist's brain waves were incorporated into the piece in golden metal to represent her unexpressed thoughts and sensations. This element offers an intimate glimpse into her mind, while the metal, combined with fabric, symbolizes the strength and resilience of the female spirit.
For Carl Jung, conjunction in alchemy held profound psychological and symbolic meaning. In the context of his interpretation of alchemy as a metaphor for the process of individuation, conjunction represents the union of opposites and the integration of different aspects of the psyche.
Conjunction marks a key point in the individuation process, which is the path toward personal realization and wholeness. Psychologically, it involves the integration of opposites within the self, such as the conscious ego with the unconscious, or the integration of the shadow (repressed aspects of the self) with the conscious identity. This stage is seen as a step toward wholeness and inner balance.
"Conjunction" in the exhibition "La advocación de los metales" at the Olivares Group Gallery, Buenos Aires, September 2024.
"Conjunction" next to "Untitled (Jacquard)" and "Threads of Identity" at Capital Feria, Córdoba, Argentina, March 2026
SOLUTIO
Fabric, metal
70 x 100 cm
This work, in which the different parts of the garment are shown in an advanced state of disassembly, refers to the stage of Dissolution in alchemy.
According to Carl Jung, dissolution is the stage in which the rigid structure of the ego begins to decompose. Psychologically, this refers to the breaking down of the defenses of the conscious self and preconceived ideas, allowing the material of the unconscious to emerge. It is a process in which old ways of being and thinking are "dissolved," paving the way for transformation. During dissolution, unconscious contents that have been repressed or ignored may come to the surface. This can include emotions, desires, or fears that the individual has not confronted. Dissolution involves immersing oneself in this unconscious material, which can be a chaotic or confusing experience, but it is necessary for the eventual integration and renewal of the self.
Dissolution can be seen as a stage of necessary chaos for creation. Just as in nature, where decomposition allows for regeneration, in Jungian psychology, this process of decomposition and dissolution is a precursor to renewal and the reconfiguration of the self. It is an essential step to leave behind the old and prepare the ground for conjunction, which is the integration of new aspects of being.
"Solutio" in the exhibition "La advocación de los metales" at the Olivares Group Gallery, Buenos Aires, September 2024.
TRANSMUTATION 1
Fabric, metal
70 x 100 cm
In the process of transmutation, Jung identified stages of purification and transformation that correspond to alchemical operations. These stages include calcination, dissolution, conjunction, and others, which involve the destruction of old psychic structures and the integration of new content, leading to greater consciousness and inner balance.
In this work, the artist shows the different stages of disassembling one of her garments. We can see how the woven fabric quickly loses its shape until it reaches the minimal unit of the weave, which is the thread. This makes an allegory to the minimal unit of identity, which is our genetic code, and to the minimal unit of programming, which is 0 and 1. In the final stage, those threads that were detached as the garment was unraveled, are rejoined to form thicker threads. These threads are woven into a loom along with golden thread to form a pattern derived from the artist's DNA sequence translated into binary code.
With this action, the artist seeks to reflect on a concept she has been working on in other series: the dialogue between technology and science. She incorporates the loom technique, referencing its relationship to the beginning of programming. In the 1830s, Ada Lovelace collaborated in the design of the first computer, called the Analytical Engine. She was inspired by the functioning of the Jacquard loom, a loom that automated the most complex patterns in the production of brocades using perforated cards, based on binary code. In this way, the Analytical Engine and the first computers designed a century later used this type of cards. Through this, the artist aims to highlight the role of women in that development, personified by Ada Lovelace, the first female programmer.
Process
Translation of the artist's DNA sequencing into binary code. (0 = white, 1 = black)
TRANSMUTATION 2
Photos printed on film strip
29,7 x 21 cm
"Solutio" alongside "Transmutation II" in the exhibition "La advocación de los metales" at Olivares Group Gallery, Buenos Aires, September 2024.
"Solutio", "Transmutation I" amd "Transmutation II" at Capital Feria, Córdoba, Argentina, March 2026
ALCHEMICAL ORBIS
Photographic prints
MDF panels
20x20 cm each photo
2026
In this series of circular photographs, printed on paper, each measuring 20 centimeters in diameter, the artist adopts the scientific gaze of the microscope to examine the process of dissolution of personal garments. The images, framed within circles that emulate the visual field of a microscope, reveal an intimate landscape of textile deconstruction, where every magnified detail becomes a testament to the alchemical process of Solutio.
These “visual samples” capture different states of the dissolution of clothing: loose threads forming chaotic patterns, undone seams revealing the internal structure of the garments, folds and marks that persist as traces of use, fibers separating to expose the fundamental nature of the fabric. Each circular image functions as a photographic Petri dish, isolating and magnifying crucial moments of material transformation.
The choice of the circular format not only references scientific observation, but also evokes alchemical symbols of transformation and the circular opus. Like samples taken at different stages of the dissolution process, the photographs document the progressive decomposition of textile structures, paralleling the dissolution of the social constructs these garments once represented.
MANTRAPOIESIS
Fabric
Artist´s DNA
Audio System
Listen to an audio example
In this work, the artist explores contemporary self-construction of identity, interweaving the biological with the constructed. She weaves her own genetic code, translated into binary language, in a symbolic and political act of self-affirmation: she takes control of her genetic information and reconstructs it through the ancestral gesture of weaving. Inspired by the Jacquard loom —a precursor to computing—, the action becomes a metaphor for the current possibilities of self-determination.
The original garments unravel into strips, losing their initial form, just as rigid identities today dissolve into more fluid constructions. This dissolution allows for a conscious reconstruction of the self, where the resulting pattern is not merely a translation of DNA but its deliberate rewriting.
The work is completed with a video in which the artist weaves guided by her own voice, reciting her genetic code translated into black and white. This binary mantra transforms the space into a techno-artistic ritual, suggesting that, in the digital age, identity can be reduced to its basic elements and then reconstructed according to one’s own creative will.
Mantrapoiesis (detail)
Process
UNTITLED (CHAGUAR FIBER TEXTILE)
Chaguar fiber textile andwoven by a Wichí artisan
93 x 50 cm
2026
This piece from "Solutio" works with the genetic information of the artist’s chromosome 1, translated into binary code and subsequently woven in chaguar fiber by Beatriz Gómez, a Wichí artisan from the community of Santa Victoria II (Salta, Argentina) and member of the women’s collective Oichena. The work is situated at the intersection of biotechnology, textile practices, and feminist epistemologies, proposing a reading of DNA not as objective, decontextualized data, but as a material and situated archive. The translation of the genetic sequence into binary—the foundational language of computational systems—reveals the apparent neutrality of technical codes, which is here disrupted by a bodily, manual, and temporal mediation. The act of weaving introduces friction, error, rhythm, and delay, reinscribing biological data within a non-extractive regime of meaning.
From a feminist perspective, the choice of a Wichí woman as the agent of this translation is constitutive of the work. Indigenous textile knowledge, historically transmitted among women, has operated as a complex system of symbolic organization, memory, and knowledge, even as it has been systematically delegitimized. In Solutio, this piece functions as a gesture of self-construction: the artist’s genetic body is not asserted as essence or origin, but as a relational process built with other women and other forms of knowledge. Female identity thus emerges not as a fixed datum, but as an ever-evolving weave in which the biological, the technical, and the cultural are intertwined and continuously redefined.
The process
1- DNA sequence of the artist’s chromosome 1
2- DNA sequence translated into binary code
3- Binary code translated into a woven pattern
4- Pattern woven in chaguar fiber
Beatriz Gómez, a Wichí artisan from the community of Santa Victoria II (Salta, Argentina), member of the women’s collective Oichena
Chaguar fibers used to weave the pattern
Isabel Englebert at Feria Capital. Córdoba, Argentina, March 2026
Feria Capital. Córdoba, Argentina, March 2026
DISSOLVO
Threads, paper
Disolvo II
Disolvo I
25 x 33 cm
25 x 33 cm
In this work, the threads that once held and shaped the garment are transformed into asemic writing. Freed from their disciplinary function, they shift from elements of restraint to independent marks that embody the dissolution of control structures and the potential for freedom.
Each thread, once a form of social containment, now creates a visual poetrythat alludes to the alchemical stage of dissolution described by Jung, where the rigidities of the ego break down to give rise to new possibilities of being.
Like asemic writing, these threads suggest communication without imposed meaning and present identity as something both constructed and capable of being liberated from systems of control. In dialogue with Virginia Woolf’s ideas on mental freedom, the work represents thoughts freed from social normativity and cultural constraints.
Therefore, the “random” composition becomes a document of liberation, a map of control structures, a record of the passage between constraint and freedom, norm and authenticity, the imposed and the chosen.
Disolvo III
12 x 15 cm
Disolvo V
17 x 25 cm
Disolvo VII
17 x 25 cm
Disolvo IX
23 x 20 cm
Disolvo XI
23 x 20 cm
Disolvo XIII
24 x 30 cm
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Disolvo XV
25 x 35 cm
Disolvo XVII
30 x 42 cm
Disolvo XIX
30 x 42 cm
Disolvo IV
12 x 15 cm
Disolvo VI
17 x 25 cm
Disolvo VIII
23 x 20 cm
Disolvo X
23 x 20 cm
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Disolvo XII
24 x 30 cm
Disolvo XIV
24 x 30 cm
Disolvo XVI
25 x 35 cm
Disolvo XVIII
30 x 42 cm
Disolvo XX
30 x 42 cm
Disolvo XXI
50 x 65
Detail
Artist’s DNA
Music box
Audio
20 × 4 cm
Our body is written with an alphabet of four letters (A, T, C, and G), arranged like a precise recipe —a molecular choreography that gives life. Like a symphony, DNA is made of rhythms and repetitions. Music is composed of notes that, when joined together, create melodies and symphonies. Just like DNA, a single note means nothing on its own, but in combination with others, it forms soundscapes that move us and define our culture.
In this work, the artist designed a translation system that converts her genetic sequencing into music, turning the invisible code of her body into a tangible melody. Just as musicians read a score to bring a composition to life, she transforms her own being into a sonic score.
The music box becomes an intimate instrument: with each turn, her biology sings. Transforming DNA into music becomes a way to make the invisible audible —to reveal the hidden harmony that lives within us.
DNA-to-chords translation with octaves
"Prelude No. 1 - Fundamental Theme" at Feria Ch.ACO, Chile, March 2026
"Prelude No.1 - Fundamental Theme" at Capital Feria, Córdoba, Argentina, March 2026
"Prelude No.1 - Fundamental Theme" at Feria Ch.ACO, Chile, March 2026
"Prelude No.1 - Fundamental Theme" at Feria Ch.ACO, Chile, March 2026
UNTITLED (JACQUARD)
80 X 195 cm
MDF panel perforated with the artist’s DNA pattern in binary code
2026
Capital Feria, Córdoba, Argentina, March 2026
VESTIGE
Textile cast in bronce
2026
Fragments of the artist’s garments, previously unstitched, are coated in wax and cast in bronze using the lost-wax technique. The procedure transforms an object associated with everyday use and with the social construction of the female body into a permanent sculptural form. Once dismantled, the garment loses its original function of dressing and containing the body, becoming an ephemeral mold whose disappearance is the very condition for the existence of the final work. Bronze thus fixes the trace of an absent object, registering folds, tensions, and voids where a body once was.
Within "Solutio", these sculptures operate as a gesture of identity self-construction through material transformation. Feminine identity does not appear here as an image or a biographical narrative, but as a process built through actions performed on matter: unpicking, coating, casting, solidifying. The lost-wax technique acquires a precise conceptual meaning, establishing a direct relationship between loss and permanence. The work proposes understanding the female body as a field of inscription where what disappears leaves behind a structure, and where memory is preserved not in the original form, but in its material trace.
VESTIGE I
11 x 20 cm
VESTIGE III
2 x 12 x 9 cm
VESTIGE II
21 x 13 cm
VESTIGE IV
17 x 10 x 5,5 cm
STATES OF TENSION
STATES OF TENSION
Plaster on textile mounted on a wooden support
2026
Fragments of the artist’s garments are subjected to physical tension: stretched, forced, and held in unstable positions before being fixed through a bath of plaster. The process arrests an intermediate moment between flexibility and rigidity, between movement and collapse. Fabric, a material associated with the body, with use and adaptation, is immobilized in a posture that is not natural to it, preserving the trace of the effort that keeps it standing. The plaster does not coat or decorate; it acts as a freezing agent, solidifying a transitory form.
Within "Solutio", these structures function as a material reflection on the construction of feminine identity under tension. The body does not appear represented, yet it is implicit in the force that stretches, supports, and demands form. Unlike bronze, which fixes loss, or weaving, which translates the code, plaster introduces a fragile temporality: it hardens without promising absolute permanence. These pieces propose thinking of identity as a momentary architecture, sustained by external and internal pressures, which rigidifies in order not to fall. Here, Solutio understands self-construction not as an achieved stability, but as a forced equilibrium between what yields and what resists.
TENSION I
41 x 41 cm
TENSION III
75 x 61 cm
TENSION V
75 x 52 cm
TENSION II
69 x 45 cm
TENSION IV
91 x 62 cm
TENSION VI
42 x 53 cm
Isabel Englebert next to "States of Tension", "Vestige" and "Prelude No.1 - Fundamental Theme" at Feria Ch.ACO, Chile, March 2026
Capital Feria, Córdoba, Argentina, March 2026