From 21 January until 3 March, the Brasilea Foundation will be presenting works by the Brazilian artist Claudia Jaguaribe. Born in Rio de Janeiro and resident in São Paulo since the 1990s, her works have been shaped by the influences of the urban metropolises on the rural environment. Heavily influenced by the current socio-political issues of our era, the dichotomy between urbanity and nature is reflected in her works. It is not the intention of the artist to document reality.
Claudia Jaguaribe’s works are based on photographic techniques, video installations and documentary work. It is an attempt to enrich the recordings with a discussion about the own language of photography.
The transitions between the applied methodologies are fluid. This forms the nucleus of her creations: a blurring of contours, boundaries and a perception of reality. She works with the primal matter of nature as a given reality – and the perception of this by humans. This kind of reproduction distorts the reality and alienates it through a new context – on the one hand, influenced by her own experiences which create the required framework of perception. And on the other, by the eye and opinion of the observer who incorporates his or her own personal perception.
Claudia Jaguaribe’s series “Topografias“, which is being exhibited at the Brasilea Foundation, among others, is an example of her working method of mixing documentation and creation. She manifests herself in that grey area between documentary, constructed and photographic production techniques. Through the composition of individual azulejos to form the complex overall work, the impression of a photographic portrayal of reality is presented to the observer yet this is actually a fictitious, photographed composition. Azulejos are large surfaces composed of tiles, rather like a mosaic and is a descendant from Portuguese heritage.
The concept of the exhibition examins on three floors the different pictorial approaches on the subjects nature and urbanity and how these relate to each other in different formats.
Pure nature is shown on the basement level on a large mural with covered areas and these artifacts represent the deforestation. On the raised ground floor urbanity of the city of Rio de Janeiro will be discussed in various perspectives under the aspect of relationship between urban space and nature in the series “Entre Morros“ as well as in the series “Topografias“. The other two exhibited series are:
“Homenagem a Hélio“ – Finds of construction material from favelas are transformed into sculptures and “Cactoceae“ – indemnified cacti on Azulejos serve as a critique of global warming and the result from desertification of brazilian landscape. And finally on the first floor, photobooks by the artist are presented together with the series “Bibliotecas“. Photographies pretend the ambience of a real library where the book spines are covered by images of forests and serve as an allusion to the memory of the preservable forest.