Maria Gainza

Optic Nerve

  • Optic Nerve

  • ‘A highly original, piercingly beautiful work, full of beautiful shocks… I felt like a door had been kicked open in my brain’ Johanna Thomas-Corr, Observer

    A woman searches Buenos Aires for the paintings that are her inspiration and her refuge. Her life -- she is a young mother with a complicated family -- is sometimes overwhelming. But among the canvases, often little-known works in quiet rooms, she finds clarity and a sense of who she is . . .

    'I was reminded of John Berger's Ways of Seeing, enfolded in tender and exuberant personal narratives'
    Claire-Louise Bennett

    'This woman-guide, who goes from Lampedusa to The Doors with crushing elegance, is unforgettable' Mariana Enriquez

    'A dazzling combination of memoir, fiction and art book, like nothing you’ve ever read before’ Elle

María Gainza was born in Buenos Aires, where she still lives. She has worked as a correspondent for The New York Times in Buenos Aires, as well as for ArtNews. For more than ten years she was a regular contributor to the magazine Artforum and Radar, the cultural supplement of Página/12. She has given courses for artists and art critic workshops and was a co-editor of the collection Los Sentidos (The Senses) on Argentinean art.

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