Simone Decanini’s art reminds us of a fundamental truth: before it’s a geographical
territory, the Amazon is a territory of the imagination. In her world, landscape is a state of
mind, and watercolor is the language of the unseen. When she turns her gaze to the
forest, she deliberately refuses the role of documentarian, choosing instead the freedom
of a dreamer. For her, the Amazon is, above all, an “imagined landscape,” an inner
ecosystem that feeds her with “light, colors, shapes, textures, life.”
Her technique mirrors this philosophy perfectly. The fluidity of watercolor — “letting it
flow, always from the inside out” — becomes the vehicle for this intuitive connection.
Water on paper echoes the water of the rivers; the organic shapes that emerge from
each wash seem to follow the forest’s own rhythm of growth. Her palette of greens, blues,
and earth tones doesn’t aim for the literal color of a leaf or a river, but rather the hue of a
feeling — the emotional imprint the forest leaves on the soul.
In this process, silence takes center stage. Asked about the silence of the Amazon,
Simone describes it as the meditative state that precedes creation. Her work is born
from this quiet, and it’s from that stillness that she responds to the urgent need to
“shout” for preservation. In her art, silence is not absence — it’s reverence. It’s an
invitation for us to hear the songs of birds and insects, to feel the heartbeat of life. In its
delicacy, silence becomes the most powerful warning.
Hope, in her work, takes the shape of seeds. “Seeds are a strong element in my work,” she
says, “because they represent what I plant in my art to bloom for future generations.” Her
painting is not just a record of a threatened present — it’s an act of sowing, a declaration
of faith in continuity. Each piece is a legacy, a capsule of beauty meant for a time yet to
come.
Simone invites us to rediscover the “simple,” the connection to “Mother Earth.” By
presenting the imagined soul of the forest, her watercolors don’t just show us the beauty
of the Amazon — they remind us of the forest that lives within us, and of the urgency to
care for them both.
The Sound of Color
Simone Decanini