I am Maria Becerra, a textile artist working through knitting as a direct and intuitive language. My knowledge comes from a traditional way of learning, without patterns. Each piece begins with a vision, but decisions are made in the process, guided by touch and feeling. My creations are finished when I feel they are complete.

My knowledge was learned “the old way” through visual study, repetition, and embodied practice. In 2019, I went to San Pedro de Atacama to learn techniques from women of the Likan Antay Indigenous community, where textile knowledge is shared visually and through lived experience.

Now based in Ireland, I find connections between Andean textile traditions and historical Irish knitting. Both come from necessity, care, and the passing of knowledge through generations, as the author Vawn Corrigan describes in her book Irish Aran: History, Tradition, Fashion.

This connection is also personal: my grandmother knitted to clothe and protect her family, and within that necessity she found an aesthetic. That aesthetic resonates with me.

I work with natural fibres from Ireland, Chile, and beyond, creating pieces where texture, structure, and colour emerge through making. Knitting, for me, is both craft and a way of thinking.