Impressions d’ultramar. Nathalie Rey

Impressions d’ultramar stems from research conducted at the Arxiu Històric de la Ciutat de Barcelona, focusing on graphic collections related to indianas —printed cotton textiles produced in the city from the eighteenth century onwards, based on motifs and designs originating in Asia. The project brings this visual legacy into dialogue with that of the indianos, those who returned from the Americas after amassing fortunes and introduced images of a distant and aspirational world into local architecture and visual culture.

Drawing on this connection, the artist presents a large-scale work created through hand-stamping techniques. Its motifs combine elements drawn from archival sources with references to architectural ornamentation, forming a hybrid visual vocabulary in which different colonial projections converge.

The manual printing process introduces variations, shifts and imperfections that evoke the circulation and transformation of images through copies, narratives and translations. In doing so, the work reflects on the relationships between desire, reproduction and representation, as well as on the construction of collective imaginaries.