a silver mirror mimics my body (2021-2024)

The film material is, in essence, an organic medium. Throughout the lineage of experimental photography and cinema, it has been perceived as a living instrument composed of natural elements, sensitive to its environment, to experiences that may destabilize it, and used as a poetic resource representing an extension of the artist’s own body.

The series ‘a silver mirror mimics my body’ follows the decaying process of 35mm self-portraits that weren’t properly archived over the years. The deterioration caused by mold, fungi and the phenomenon of silver mirroring, which naturally affects the emulsion of photographic materials potentialized by humidity and air pollution, results in the progressive rotting of portraits that once crystallized my presence. By documenting the changes that occurred to the negatives over the years, I draw a connection between the damage to the film emulsion and the impact of environmental pollution on my health as a person in an urban environment.

Air contamination, industrial pollution, forest fires, wildland arson, and the increase in global temperatures have exacerbated respiratory issues, with daily alerts issued to higher-risk groups over the past month during Brazil's hottest and driest winter on record. In this series, the destruction of the film emulsion caused by negligence rather than intervention serves as an imagetic representation of the bodily sensations experienced by my respiratory system as it's subjected to the effects of the persistent destruction of remaining life and resources in my territory.