Life and art as continuum:Jacqueline Machado de Souza

Life and art as a continuum – Interview with Jacqueline Machado de Souza.

In this new series of interviews, SICA invites cultural professionals from the Netherlands, who have (or had) a project involving Brazil, to tell us a little bit about their history and to share inspiring experiences.

This edition of Anecdotes on the Job is focused on the history of a Brazilian artist living in the Netherlands, Jacqueline Machado de Souza.

‘I was studying arts at University in Brazil before I came to the Netherlands. Here I went through a research period until I could continue with my studies: one year at the Rietveld Academie (I was living in Utrecht), six months at the Academy of Art in Maastricht, and at last at the Academy in Hasselt where I developed my studies in  the field of photography.

Over the past 20 years the world and the image of Brazil has changed a lot. Unfortunately, back then a professor at the Academy in Maastricht questioned if someone coming from Brazil was even able to make contemporary art, to begin with. In my opinion, this was an absurd question in the context of globalization, the Brazilian art production was already rich by then.

My work has photography and video as a base. Art for me is an extension of life, and a way to relate to it. Since my childhood, when I didn’t even had knowledge of the different artistic disciplines, I was already fascinated by all artistic disciplines, especially cinema. Because I see art and life as a “continuum”, I believe that this is the reason for choosing photography and video as the medium for developing artwork, where “life as it is” is presented as the main source of inspiration.

In the context of the exhibition Tijdelijk Verblijf, I presented the series Muros (Walls), which is about the reproduction of advertisements from political parties on walls of cities in Brazil. Besides being displayed in the exhibition space, the works were also exhibited on the walls of the city of Oud Rekem. This intervention aimed to reproduce the same context in which the artworks were originated (the walls of the city), while at the same time as artworks creating a new meaning. It also worked as an extension of the exhibition space to the city of Oud Rekem, interacting with the public. One of the photos " 31 é Ivonete Queiroz" was even stolen, I think by a student!

I have lived in the Netherlands for more than 20 years now.  I’ve been through all the normal things (positive and negative) that are part of an immigration process and adaptation to a new culture. But, I don’t see that my nationality has influenced entering the art market. During my path, the positive or negative factors are related to artistic matters, the possibility of circulation, exhibition and diffusion of artworks. And of course, my position as an artist in relation to these factors.

For my last video individual exhibition, I was extremely happy to be able to use the space of ‘T Brandweer, a venue where the fire brigade in Maastricht used to be located, currently used as an exhibition space by SAM. We screened 5 videos there , of which 4 show the relationship between the individual and the public space. It is an approach of the settings and human types, where the public space functions as meeting point, identity and territoriality. Where the human element is the central point of the artwork.’

The exhibition “Regardless to Others” was displayed at the ‘T Brandweer, in Maastricht until the 30th of September 2012.