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"Forever and a day" is the work that I present at the Blanca Soto Gallery. It started from the residencies I did in Portugal and Japan in the last two years.

In Lisbon I worked at Carpe Diem Arte e Pesquisa, currently an art and culture space and former residence of the Marquis of Pombal. In Japan it was at Aomori Contemporary Art Center.

During the two residences, to get closer to the new environment, I chose to draw everyday elements  found there, such as small objects, fragments of nature, representative models of local culture found in Lisbon architecture and on traditional Aomori textile production, as well as fragments of texts from authors I read during that period. Among them, DAZAI Osamu, a Japanese writer born in the Aomori region, was one of the main authors used in this project.

The relations between the two cultures, which at first seemed distant to me, grew closer before my eyes, until they almost became complementary. This unexpected encounter led me to understand all the opportunities we create when we offer a space for coexistence for different realities.

Through drawing I have tried to connect distant everyday life, relate simple objects such as books, flowers and porcelain among other utensils (representative of both realities) as a collage of two times and spaces. Our days, even in distant countries, are also a sequence of things that are simple and important in their simplicity. In fact, great things don't happen to us often.

The act of drawing urges me to pay attention to my surroundings and to myself at the same time. While drawing, I find my own rhythm and speed, and I understand myself better where I am.

In this project I decided to arrange the works on the wall as if they were part of the structure of the house itself. I am interested in thinking of them as a diary that is at the same time an element that builds the space. A small brick that builds walls. Paper as a symbolic construction of our interiority and simplicity. They organize themselves by creating open narrative relationships. I wish that as the person walks through space they can create their own story and invent relationships between them. Each visitor creates their own story based on their journey, with their eyes and their body.

Ultimately, "Forever and a Day" I consider a collaborative process that begins with the wealth made available to all of us by these two great cultures and continues with each viewer and the drawings I submit. The intermediary space, which for me is the true work, continues in the relationship of the drawings with the architecture provided by the Blanca Soto gallery, which allows the more integrated presentation of the drawings to the world.

More about Renata Cruz

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