Summary:
The Approximations project emerged from the desire to interact and work with the women of the Bacia do Mercado (Market Wharf) area in Santos, even during the pandemic. Under social distancing and while rethinking the notion of territory, I affirm the female experience of self-awareness (contemplating ourselves and one another) and propose the creation of representations through “portrait-conversations” with the women who alongside me form the group of Colaboradora – Arts & Communities.
Through video calls, we talked about being portrayed / observed and portraying / observing ourselves, recalling our experiences with the mirror. Drawings and narratives became pictures that would adorn the territory: portraits and brief sentences were represented on paper and hung as posters throughout the Bacia do Mercado area.
Approximations is also a mapping, a proposal of a journey that recognizes the area through the eyes of women, making us closer to each other, echoing and broadening our voices and experiences, creating an experiment in occupation and dialogue between women in the urban space.
The project:
The Approximations project emerged from the desire to be and work with the women of the Bacia do Mercado (Market Wharf) area in Santos, even during the pandemic.
Under social distancing and while rethinking the notion of territory, I affirm the female experience of self-awareness (contemplating ourselves and one another) and propose the creation of representations through “portrait-conversations” with the women who alongside me form the group of Colaboradora – Arts & Communities.
Through video calls, we talked about being portrayed / observed and portraying / observing ourselves, recalling our experiences with the mirror; and we spoke about our experiences of seeing and being seen, also taking into account the new communication processes and the greater frequency of digital meetings.
I record the conversations and draw as we speak. The drawing broadens my listening, allows me to come closer to the women, search for them despite the discomfort of being together through a screen. A screen that flattens, crops and constantly varies in definition. A screen that allows meetings, but does not replace the presence, the circulation of air, the act of breathing together.
Drawings and narratives became pictures that would adorn the territory: portraits and brief sentences were represented on paper and hung as posters throughout the Bacia do Mercado area. Through the documentation of the conversations, mappings and wanderings through the territory, I seek to associate each woman (her portrait and discourse) to local elements – windows, gates, colors, plants, sidewalks, patterns, prints, etc. – establishing a poetic dialogue between them and these spaces.
The posters propose a journey along the Bacia do Mercado area, offering the possibility to meet and recognize the territory through the eyes of women artists. The choice of locations for these installations was based not only on a mapping adequate walls for poster hanging, but mainly on the relationship between the women and their territory: their memories and desires of artistic practices in the region, their proposals, projects and meaningful experiences before the pandemic all guided me into choosing the specific locations, elements and colors that would compose the paintings.
Approximations proposes an intervention based on an interrupted desire to work in a concrete way, guided by imagination, to recognize spaces through the eyes of women who wish to belong, connect, engage in dialogue. Given the impediment, the impossibility, the project seeks other ways to manifest this desire and work through absence, finding ways to occupy the territory with our bodies and desires and give the “presence” of women back to the streets.
Through the drawings, I search for spaces to share our experiences and desires and to later intervene in the Bacia do Mercado area with the representations and voices of these women. Art thus becomes a way to symbolically “return us” to the spaces we wish to occupy.
The dialogue with the territory and the women who belong to it happens through the images that take the streets. During the poster hanging intervention, a direct relationship is established with women who are local residents or just passing by, broadening the dialogue and creating coexistence. The duration (albeit ephemeral) of the posters will allow other, indirect relationships to emerge – affections I am still analyzing how to measure.
Therefore, Approximations stems from a mapping of the powers that can be found in the territory, as well as an identification of possible actions and the strong desire found in the perspective of diverse women artists who dream to work (and do work) in the Bacia do Mercado area. It also seeks to make us closer together, experimenting with dialogues between women in the urban space.
[vc_zigzag color=”custom” el_border_width=”15″ custom_color=”#ea3b76″][vc_empty_space height=”22px”]Coordenação Colaboradora Artes e Comunidades
Marília Guarita
Marina Paes
Mentoria Colaboradora Artes e Comunidades
Coletivo Etinerâncias (Gabriel Kieling e Raíssa Capasso)
Fabrício Lopez
Luciane Ramos
Marina Guzzo
Artistas Colaboradora Artes e Comunidades
Alexandre Almeida
Ana Letícia Figueira (Anita)
Breno Garcia (Groovy)
César Augusto Esteves (Pakko)
Eleonora Artysenk
Elizabete Fitzgerald (Bete Nagô)
Fernando Henrique de Góis
Luiz Augusto Marques (Vida/Marq’s)
Natália Brescancini
Soledad Brandão
Talita Vidal
Equipe Procomum
Breno Garcia
Cássia Sabino
Fabrício Freitas
Geórgia Nicolau
Juliana Freitas
Marília Guarita
Marina Paes
Marina Pereira
Rodrigo Savazoni
Silmara Baron
Simone Oliveira
Victor Sousa
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