Totems

Ariel Vargassal uses his portrait series "Totems" as a means to explore metaphorical themes that impact modern society, such as mental health issues, political inequities, and emotional states of both cognitive dissonance and unexpected pleasure.

Drawing from his homeland’s rich history of mural art that blossomed into the movement known as “Magic Naturalism,” as well as being influenced by the indigenous belief systems from the Americas, and elsewhere, that used the spiritual concept of totems in day-to-day life, Vargassal utilizes a minimalist approach to his work in order to reveal the complex co-existence between the human world and that of wild life.