A sort of invisible assembly line is the host to [the traditionally-assigned- to-women] reproductive work. Its daily gestures trigger body languages, dances and whispers that become more evident when thinking through food and objects — and even more so through their presence or their absence.
“the house to women, to men the square”
In this installation, all bodies are summoned. And it’s the market as a square, a public & visible space of interaction and socialization, that we occupy in an enunciative way. Female bodies and gestures are then recruited to places where they haven’t been expected to be. With their strength, women are part of a circuit of production that is quite essential to the maintenance of life and of another appropriate force: the workforce, for sale on another type of market.
Script
A traditional market rack, a support where, amongst boxes of fruit and vegetables, a monitor with a video-essay introduces various stages of an assembly line, applied to domestic rituals (and their more or less silent dances). Everything begins with a scenario that merges the means of production with its surroundings — almost black and white, the laborious gestures gain prominence. While setting the table, the filmic aesthetic is tranquil, with light tones and blue punctuating a harmonious background. A new close-up suggests a new perspective on what is happening: the line is hacked with the introduction of mistakes that interrupt a supposed linearity of gestures, up to then more or less tranquil. The escalating tone of revolt gains strength with the vivid tones that take over the living painting.
Photography by Mariana Lopes
instalation
maio 2022
Producer
Mafalda Fernandes
Photographer
Mariana Lopes
Institutional partner
Ministry of Culture - Portuguese Republic
Acknowledgements
Fruit shop O canteiro do avô almeida
A sort of invisible assembly line is the host to [the traditionally-assigned- to-women] reproductive work. Its daily gestures trigger body languages, dances and whispers that become more evident when thinking through food and objects — and even more so through their presence or their absence.
“the house to women, to men the square”
In this installation, all bodies are summoned. And it’s the market as a square, a public & visible space of interaction and socialization, that we occupy in an enunciative way. Female bodies and gestures are then recruited to places where they haven’t been expected to be. With their strength, women are part of a circuit of production that is quite essential to the maintenance of life and of another appropriate force: the workforce, for sale on another type of market.
Script
A traditional market rack, a support where, amongst boxes of fruit and vegetables, a monitor with a video-essay introduces various stages of an assembly line, applied to domestic rituals (and their more or less silent dances). Everything begins with a scenario that merges the means of production with its surroundings — almost black and white, the laborious gestures gain prominence. While setting the table, the filmic aesthetic is tranquil, with light tones and blue punctuating a harmonious background. A new close-up suggests a new perspective on what is happening: the line is hacked with the introduction of mistakes that interrupt a supposed linearity of gestures, up to then more or less tranquil. The escalating tone of revolt gains strength with the vivid tones that take over the living painting.
Photography by Mariana Lopes
instalation
maio 2022
Producer
Mafalda Fernandes
Photographer
Mariana Lopes
Institutional partner
Ministry of Culture - Portuguese Republic
Acknowledgements
Fruit shop O canteiro do avô almeida