between the beginning and the end
My research started from the question: “How to navigate intimacy through a dialogue between drawing and embroidery?”, aiming to reflect on intimacy and line — further reaching the present stage, exploring the notion of “in-betweenness” and its possibilities of expansion. Inspired by the phenomenon of the Diphylleia grayi, the skeleton flower in which its petals become transparent when touched by water, and taking it as the conceptual subject of my work, it’s possible to see that the idea of threshold was already present from the start. By reflecting on the existence of what is easily seen and what is more difficult to access, and basing those reflections on the exploration of the line, I developed all of the works made during the course so far.
I discovered that drawing is a potent medium to explore memory and intimacy, because it encompasses time and presence, and there’s also the characteristic of immediacy; it’s a first point of contact. While using embroidery in the context of the expanded drawing, the physicality of the thread positions this intimate drawing in the space and creates new relationships with the body and the physicality of a place/architecture. In this process, I experimented with a diversity of new materials, processes, mediums and display methods, as well as expanded my scope of references and concepts, understanding how I was deeply interested and reflecting on the idea of liminality.
At this point, I also reflect on the ways that my own existence in this context of the MA is related to this idea of intermediary and transitory. As an artist living outside of my country for the first time, I try to bring my own presence as a threshold point, mixing new international references with brazilian references in art, stitching my own experience as an immigrant for the first time with my personal experiences from home. All of this is, of course, implicit, as my practice doesn’t have a focus on brazilian identity or brazilian culture specifically. However, as my work comes from my interior, from the layers where I hold my experiences and memories, my personal identity is highlighted and it is undeniably latin-american, as this is the context where my biggest references come from and where my whole life has happened; I feel proud to cherish and value this background, while I expand my horizons and perspectives on the world by living in another cultural context for one and a half years.
I feel that, by reaching this stage that I focus on the subject of liminality, there are still many layers to be explored in my research – conceptually and physically. Because of that, I hope I can continue this practice-based research in a PhD program in the future, or independently as an artist. Just like the skeleton flower, I’d like to continue exploring my threshold existence in the world, as I feel that both interior and exterior will always be present, even when it doesn’t seem so.
There might be no prediction of the end of this line, and the beginning point might be blurred, but this research will remain as the memory of the in-between.