Fresh Air

From her Rio de Janeiro studio, artist Adriana Varejão forges new connections to nature and the wider world

- -KATE GUADAGNINO

At her Rio de Janeiro studio, artist Adriana Varejão often leaves the tall accordion doors open—rain or shine.

This affords a view of a courtyard that’s a frequent stopping place for birds of the surrounding Horto area, set within the larger neighborhood of Jardim Botânico. Those doors harness natural light, and they echo the indoor-outdoor ethos of her hometown, of modernist architecture, and even of her own practice. As she explains, there are those artists, such as Giorgio Morandi, who make or made “a kind of work that was very inside, very connected to his intimate way of life.” Hers adapts to different stories and places.