Far away from here

After the appropriation of Rugendas’ drawings (where the German artist and traveler depicted Brazilian landscape), numerous reproductions (photocopies) of these pictures were made until their disappearance. The video is a stop-motion animation created from a series of these images.

FAR AWAY FROM HERE 
Video 
2:23 minutes
2014-2018

Rugendas drawings and paintings are some of Brazil’s first representations, and it is still a reference in our image of a tropical Land. After many years of European colonization, how could these representations be thought of nowadays? How could these images be resituated toward a contemporary Brazilian imaginary of a tropical land?

The work’s title refers to the song “Brasilien ist nicht weit von hier” (Brazil is not far from here), a song that told wonders about Brazil to stimulate the migration of Germans to the country in the 19th century.