You can’t see it right away. But it’s there—scattered in fragments
of light, outlined in silence, in drawings that seem to whisper an
ancestral prayer. Ju Chaves knows this forest well. And with
skilled, sensitive hands, she reconstructs it—not as if it could ever
be restored intact, but as if honoring its dignity were an urgent
act.
Her choice of material is a declaration of values. “Glass and the
forest are alike,” she says. “Both are fragile and resilient.
Sustainable. Cyclical. They breathe life, mystery, and renewal.” It
is within this poetic mirror that her art reflects itself. Its
transparency allows us to see through—see time, cycles, but
also the ever-present threat of breaking. In her hands, glass is
not rigid; it vibrates, like trees, like rivers. As if each mosaic panel
were an offering, an altar of light honoring the dignity of what
often goes unseen.
It’s in her manifesto series, "Biomes of Brazil," that this approach
finds its most powerful expression. The work emerges as a "call
to consciousness," an act that is both protest and reverence. The
challenge, according to the artist, was to choose symbols that
represent the strength of the Amazon—and she found it in the
jaguar. In her mosaic glasswork, the jaguar is not just a creature
of striking beauty; it is the archetype of “wisdom and protection,”
the spiritual “guardian” that embodies “harmonious existence.”
Perhaps, deep down, all of Ju Chaves’ work is a kind of prayer.
A quiet attempt to return to the forest some of the faith it has
given us— even wounded, even scarred, it insists on blooming.
That’s why, for the artist, there is no separation between
creating and protecting, between aesthetics and responsibility.
The final goal is clear:
“If the forest could see my work, I would want it to feel dignified.”
And we feel it. When we contemplate her art, we feel it.
The forest breathes.
The glass pulses.
The Amazon shines.
And for a moment, the world feels whole again.
Instagram: @jubarros.art
www.jubarros.art