Costura da Memória is the "Project Zero" of my artistic investigation. It was born from a visceral need to visually demonstrate the internal process of reconstructing memories through images. By challenging the traditional reliability of the camera’s "memory," I began to use my own subjective recollection as the primary tool for reconstructing a lived moment.
The Methodology: Instead of presenting a single, unified photograph, I deconstruct the image into four distinct parts with overlapping edges. Each segment undergoes a different digital treatment, reflecting the fragmented and inconsistent nature of how we store experiences. Once printed, I physically reunite these fragments using a sewing machine. The stitches serve a dual purpose: they are the physical bond that holds the image together and the visual trace of how my memory navigated that specific moment—a reclamation of human agency over the "fixed" memory of the lens.
Theoretical Framework: This project initiated a deep dialogue with the philosophy of time and the ontology of the image. The deconstruction of the photographic instant is grounded in Henri Bergson’s concept of duration, where time is not a series of static points but a continuous, fluid flow. The "scars" created by the sewing machine act as a Barthesian punctum, disruptive details that break the linear narrative to evoke personal affect and remembrance.
My practice is also informed by Georges Didi-Huberman’s analysis of the "tension of temporalities" within an image, refusing a unique, objective history. The physical act of sewing resonates with Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s focus on the inseparability of lived time and corporeality, while the transformation of individual travel photos (originally from a New York series exhibited in Curitiba) into shared artifacts aligns with Maurice Halbwachs’ theories on collective memory. Finally, the survival of these visual affects across media draws from Aby Warburg’s Pathosformel, viewing images as living vessels of human emotion.
TECHNICAL SHEET
Project: Costura da Memória (Sewing Memory)
(Debut): Curitiba, Brazil
Year: 2016 (Foundational Project)
Medium: Deconstructed Photography, Digital Manipulation, and Machine Sewing on Paper.
Themes: Bergsonian Duration, Somatic Memory, Punctum, and the Body-Artist.
Technical Specifications:
Process: Quadrant deconstruction, variable digital processing, and structural machine-sewing.
Core Authors: Henri Bergson, Roland Barthes, Georges Didi-Huberman, Aby Warburg, Maurice Halbwachs, and Merleau-Ponty.
Evolution: This project served as the theoretical and practical matrix for my Master's thesis: "Time and Image: Speculations and experiments on time in artistic practice."