Bem-te-vi e bananeira (proposta expositiva) (2020)

2020 a

individual

Installative proposal, 340x81cm

4 images printed in pigment on paper and ambient audio in loop

(Virtual mockup)

Bem-te-ví e Bananeira [Bem-te-ví and Banana Tree] is an installation proposal, produced as part of the Letters to Ultramarine project, which combines digital collages and a sound piece, composed in collaboration with musician Zazá. The work consists of 4 images printed in pigment on paper (measuring 81x63cm each) and an audio piece (avaliable in portugues and english, 7 minutes long, reproduced in loop). In the proposal presented, the images are arranged over 3.40m in a preferably dark environment, but the work may be reconfigured (to some extent) depending on the available space.

I came across a banana tree in the empty parking lot of a large football stadium. I set up the tripod, adjusted the composition and exposure to my preference and clicked. When I checked the image, a small black blury spot – almost indistinguishable from the camera's small viewfinder – made me uncomfortable. Was the lens dirty? Or worse, the sensor? No. A bem-te-vi bird had crossed the frame just when I pressed the shutter.

The work features 4 digital collages built based on this photograph. The sound piece, composed in collaboration with the Brazilian musician Zazá, juxtaposes elements such as the singing of bem-te-vi bird and political speeches that are striking in our historical moment, both digitally altered to the point of depriving them of familiarity. The sound piece is still support and support for 6 poems, composed as part of the project.

The work seeks to enhance, through its sound and visual components, the agency of the native bird that imposed itself on the composition. Creating an atmosphere of discomfort and strangeness, the work sets out to stress the opposition between the native good-te-ví and the banana tree, an exotic symbol of latent interference in Latin American ecosystems.