"The work Manto is based on a collected small drifted pieces of coral that have been sewn back to form a larger entity. After a Caribbean tropical storm in of Panama, the coastline woke up with thousand of coral and algae bits and pieces and some dead fish. I started to pick up the coral remains and when already in my studio,l tied them up with waxed cord to form this large piece. Manto is a recreation of a large ray or sea being that floats, suspended on air on this case but trying to imitate an existence that floats in the deep ocean. I have been working with discarded elements of nature for some years now, I pick up virtually everything that attracts my attention that has fallen from a tree or from the seashore or abandoned chrysalis, twigs, fallen nests, shells, spines or dried roots among others." - Cecilia Paredes