A Brazilian artist currently working in Rome (Italy), she studies the links between globalisation and biodiversity in a very unique way. In her projects “Seeds of Change” and “Wake”, like an archaeologist-anthropologist, she studied the plants found in travellers’ clothing and the ballast of merchant ships. This historical research allowed her to map the development of globalisation. She sees her art as research into life: working on things that are still unknown means heading down an unpredictable path. Cofounder of the Brazilian Partido Verdo (green party) in São Paulo, Maria Thereza Alves works closely alongside local Indian populations.