Braga’s video work Provisão (2009) opens with a still shot of a clearing in a forest, shoots of grass emerging from a muddy brown patch of seemingly dry and barren earth. As the camera fades to black, the viewer hears the repeated sound of a shovel striking dirt. The camera fades back to the clearing and zooms in on a shirtless man digging up the ground. The hole grows wider and deeper as he digs, becoming an almost crater-like expanse filled knee-deep with ground water. The man emerges from the hole and begins to chop the base of a tree next to the hole, hacking away with deep and repetitive strokes until the tree begins to fell and eventually collapse into the massive cavity beneath. A symbol of life and growth, the tree’s collapse is achieved solely by pushing one’s strength to an absolute limit. He emerges from the hole again and begins to shovel the dirt back in, burying the tree under a seemingly endless and inexhaustible pile of earth until it is fully covered, its branches and leaves submerged. The metaphors here between destruction and nature are difficult to ignore. At once both poetic and unsettling, Provisão offers a cautionary tale about the harmful impacts of human interventions on the environment.
Born in Manaus in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, Brazilian-born artist Rodrigo Braga confronts the natural world head-on. His video and media-based work are centered on these encounters that place him at the focus point of the work, between the human condition and the animal kingdom. Braga’s performative practice reveals itself through photography that deals with his relationship with landscape and animals. For Braga, the body is the medium of which he exposes the limits. Power dynamics, weakness, life, death, struggle, submission, domination and masculinity come to play in his practice of photography, video and installation. He tests his limits with any beast, exposing carnal instincts with a calibrated approach. Braga has exhibited internationally including the 30th São Paulo Bienal, The Imminence of Poetics (São Paulo, 2012); From the Margin to the Edge, Somerset House (London, 2012); Mythologies, Cité Internationale des Arts (Paris, 2011); and Giant by nature, IVAM – Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderna (Valencia, 2011).
Discover the diary of Sir Joshua Reynolds PRA | Blog | Royal Academy of Arts Sir Joshua Reynolds, PRA, pocket book © Photo: Royal Academy of Arts, London Discover the diary of Sir Joshua Reynolds PRA Read more Become a Friend Discover the diary of Sir Joshua Reynolds PRA Published 14 July 2023 On the 300th anniversary of the birth of our first president Sir Joshua Reynolds, we’ve digitised his diary for the first time...
His large installation entitled The Museum of Proletarian Culture (2012) looked at the changes in artistic practice that have occurred in Russia throughout the last thirty years – from the amateur art of the late Soviet era to the commercialized post-Soviet cultural practices and the more recent self-expression via contemporary social networks...
Weekly Picks: Singapore (9 - 15 July 2018) | ArtsEquator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Singapore July 9, 2018 dead was the body till I taught it how to move by Bhumi Collective 11-14 July 2018 The Bhumi Collective presents dead was the body till i taught it how to move, a performance and story by Dominic Nah, written by Edward Eng...
Designing a Paperback Book Spine: Essential Tips and Tricks Home » Designing a Paperback Book Spine: Essential Tips and Tricks ART & DESIGN Jan 31, 2024 Ξ Leave a comment Designing a Paperback Book Spine: Essential Tips and Tricks posted by Kelly Schoessling Let your book stand out on the shelves...
‘Gangbusters’ domestic economy sees prices rise at India Art Fair Art market Museums & heritage Exhibitions Books Podcasts Columns Technology Adventures with Van Gogh Search Search India analysis ‘Gangbusters’ domestic economy sees prices rise at India Art Fair The region’s previous art market boom and bust has some at the New Delhi event questioning whether this new wave can be sustained Kabir Jhala 2 February 2024 Share A visitor at Chemould Prescott Road's stand at India Art Fair 2024 Courtesy of India Art Fair Quiet confidence has turned into bullishness at the 15th edition of India Art Fair (IAF) in New Delhi (until 4 February), South Asia’s largest commercial art event...