Contato  (Contact)
series of photopaintings on gelatin silver print 
2010
18 x 24 cm each


These images were secretly taken during video calls, in moments of bad connection. Later, they were digitally transformed into negative images, to allow for a contact photo print.
The images were imprinted directly on the gelatin silver photographic paper, with the light from a computer's LCD screen. A photo contact.
After development and fixation, the photographs were handpainted with special watercolor for light sensitive photo papers.
Contact series responds to a need for actual presence of loved ones who are at a distance. The emotional connection through a flawed digital image is brought to materiality by an optical and tangible process. The distant contact between me and each one of them is extended after the call, as I press the photo paper against the screen to print it with light from their faces. Ghostly distorted presences, painted to come to life.







Urbano Avesso group show
curated by Daniela Labra
Galeria Luciana Caravello 
Rio de Janeiro, Brasil, 2011