The Argentine artist Li Ramet creates vast, fluid, mixed media works in her home, a rambling converted finca in the hills between Santa In&eacute;s and the coast. As she opens her home to her newest exhibition, A Way to Emerge, Ramet speaks to L&rsquo;OFFICIEL IBIZA&rsquo;s Maya Boyd about combining themes of visibility, femininity, history and heritage.

You were raised in Argentina. Can you explain a little about your upbringing and how that influenced your career?
I was born in San Juan, a small town that is close to the desert and to the Andes mountains. It&rsquo;s not a big place but I grew up in quite a bohemian way because my mother was an artist and she had a studio with a lot of other creatives. She was always giving us things to paint. She used to hold exhibitions and my brother and I would be there falling asleep under the easels. My dad was also very creative, and my parents began making frames and restoring old mirrors together, things like that. I was growing and learning in this atmosphere and they always supported me in my creativity and encouraged me to research art. That was important, because I went on to study art and the history of art at university. History now informs a huge part of my work. I came to Spain when my dad moved to Malaga. I visited some friends in Ibiza and I fell in love with the island. That was 15 years ago and I have stayed ever since.&nbsp;

You work between two studios and here at the finca. Can you tell me a little about your creative process?&nbsp;
It's interesting because I work with different mediums to express myself and I work in different places. Sometimes I go through sculpture, through painting, through collages. In my studio I have a big table with vintage magazines and I might stop working on a painting and begin to collage and then I continue with my painting. It can seem like quite a disorganized way to work but as soon as something comes to me, I have to express it. I think perhaps it is different parts of my personality coming through, but I recognize that in every medium of my work, there is a connection; there&rsquo;s a language that connects the pieces, even if they look different. In fact, in some of my collages I use my unfinished paintings as a base, the ones I used as sketches in the studio. I often start my pieces outdoors in nature, or in abandoned agricultural areas. I like to absorb the energy that comes from these structures, I feel that it infuses the work with a sort of power, something very particular to Ibiza.

What can you tell me about this exhibition in particular? It appears both vast in scale yet very intimate.&nbsp;
My inspiration is always drawn from research and meditation on the abstract fields of sensuality, eroticism, the feminine inner body, and the study of inner territories. It is always about a reflection on the state of being. My work is very feminine yet powerful. I&rsquo;m inspired by people such as the American visual artist Nancy Spero and by Tracey Emin: artists who are exploring themes of womanhood and power and oppression and marginalization. The art world, like so many areas of life, is dominated by the patriarchy. I&rsquo;ve always been interested in the women behind these men &ndash; in their stories and their struggles and their successes. The women behind Rodin, for example. Women are the ultimate creators &ndash; they create life &ndash; yet so often their vision is suppressed. In this exhibition I explore the dynamics of visibility and invisibility of women in general both in history and today. I do this by using figures in my works that seem to emerge and then to retreat back into the work. Sometimes they appear clearly and at other times they are invisible. It becomes like a game.

How has the island of Ibiza come to define your work and what are the benefits of working within a tight-knit creative community?
 Ibiza is a feminine island with a very powerful energy and I take inspiration from nature, architecture and history. Our house is a traditional finca that&rsquo;s over 300 years old, and the house really becomes part of the exhibition. Each room contains a different series of work, whether sculpture or a video installation or collages. Throughout the exhibition we will host performances from other creatives &ndash; musicians, speakers, artists, historians. This is one the greatest gifts of working in Ibiza, that there is a dialogue between different disciplines. I wanted to create a series of events that compliment my art, with a connection and a language that we can build upon. As an artist, when you do an art residency, you are inspired by the other artists and what they bring to the table. In bringing together different creatives in this house we are building a platform for finding and sharing a common language. It&rsquo;s a really inspirational process.
<a href="https://www.instagram.com/li_ramet/?hl=en">A Way to Emerge by Li Ramet runs</a> from today until Tuesday 20th by appointment in Santa In&eacute;s.
Wednesday 14th: Ibiza History night. 100 years of Art in Ibiza with the Martin Davies + more.
Saturday 17th: Art performance with a special guest followed by live music with DJ Chabeli.&nbsp;
Tuesday 20th: Closing event &amp; live concert with the musician Lo-Fang.

Photography by <a href="https://www.sayanacairo.com/">Sayana Cairo</a> and Uri F.

A Way to Emerge: a new exhibition by Li Ramet

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