In 2024, Argentine biologist and paper artist Josefina Stagnaro visited Awasi Iguazu, our 14 lodge Relais & Chateaux hotel minutes from the Iguazu Falls, to participate in the Awasi Artist Immersion program.

Iguazu Falls, Argentina

During this visit, she presented her sculptural works titled Project Maracaná, inspired by the Aves Argentinas initiative in Northern Misiones.

Silver-plated artist

Born and raised in San Antonio de Areco, Josefina has for many years been pulled in two directions.

Now a renowned paper artist, art has always been a part of Josefina Stagnaro’s life. Her father, Gustavo Stagnaro, is a renowned silversmith who crafts traditional Argentine silverware just a few blocks from Areco’s main square. Since childhood, Josefina spent long hours in the family workshop watching her father at work and learning to appreciate the artistry of such a trade.

But since her early years, she has also been fascinated by the natural world and a keen interest in understanding, her words, “where life came from… what it’s made of, how it works”. A fascination, in fact, that led her to study Molecular Biology at the University of Buenos Aires.

However, after years working as a biologist, a vocational reassessment led her back to her hometown, where she decided to revisit what had accompanied her for so many hours since childhood: art.

Exploring the Misiones jungle realised a childhood dream for artist Josefina Stagnaro

“I always loved art, and suddenly I had to make room for it” she explains.

“Inevitably, I left the lab aside and set up my studio, where I work as a paper artist, developing a technique that constantly changes and evolves, like life.”

Upon returning to Areco, Josefina installed herself in her father’s silversmith workshop, where she had spent so much of her upbringing. Separated by a hallway, father and daughter began to foster an artistic legacy.

But her love of nature and the pull of the natural world never left her, and eventually led her to the humid jungle world of Misiones, and Awasi Iguazu’s artist immersion initiative. It was, she observes, a unique opportunity “to unite my two parts: art and biology.”

The warm lobby/living room at Awasi’s Iguazú property. MIGUEL CESAR

Brilliant blue in the house of birds

Her first impressions of the Atlantic forest that surrounds Awasi Iguazu, and its remarkable biodiversity, were vivid and impactful.

“The first encounter with the bird (a blue-winged macaw) was very exciting, allowing me to appreciate all its characteristics, which I had only seen in books until then: its red back, belly and forehead, the brilliant blue of its wings, the reversible feathers of its tail” Josefina recalls.

As part of her stay, she visited the Guirá Oga refuge, which in Guarani means “the house of the birds.” The refuge protects endangered wildlife, often victims of illegal hunting and trading, and helps where possible to rehabilitate and return them to the wild.

This was the inspiration behind her piece – exquisitely detailed sculptures of birds made from paper.

Stagnaro was inspired by a visit to a bird refuge and animal sanctuary in the Northern Misiones region

The Maracaná Project

Aves Argentinas has a mission to reintroduce the blue-winged macaw, a species of parrot, also known as the maracaná afeitado. Despite being a natural icon of the province, it has not been sighted in this region for decades and is considered critically endangered.

Stagnaro used her training as a biologist to create the exquisite details of her paper sculptures

“During my stay at Awasi Iguazú, I had the honour of being welcomed by Rodrigo Fariña, the project coordinator, who took me personally to see a beautiful specimen of maracaná at the refuge.”

The refuge receives animals rescued from wildlife trafficking (the blue-winged macaw is sometimes kept as a pet partly because of its ability to bond strongly with humans), or injured by poachers.

They are nursed back to health and then transferred to release sites. The release sites are chosen to encourage interaction with other birds of the same species, hopefully leading to reproduction and the adoption of typical species behaviours necessary for survival in the wild.

The birds are very selective in choosing a mate, adding another challenge to the project’s success.

One of the challenges of re-introducing the blue-winged macaw to this area is that they are highly selective in choosing a mate

Birds of paper feathers

Josefina’s experience at Awasi Iguazu, and the birds she saw there, gave her the desire “to create a pair and bring them to the Misiones jungle, representing the final goal of Aves Argentinas’ project through art.”

“My greatest wish”, she finishes, “is that on future visits to Misiones, we will see the blue winged macaw flying over the jungle.”

Stagnaro’s project realised, in art, the collective dream of seeing the blue-winged macaw living once again in the Misiones jungle

Nature, an infinite source of inspiration

“This unique opportunity to learn about and represent the project will be exhibited at Awasi Iguazú, allowing its visitors to learn about the Maracaná Project and the passion with which it is carried out” says Stagnaro.

Having fulfilled a childhood dream of venturing into the jungle, “I leave with a renewed desire to learn, discover, and continue exploring nature, an infinite source of inspiration.”