João Luís Carrilho da Graça: “Pizzicato”
©João Luís Carrilho da Graça Courtesy of the Incubator Photo Gallery
Written by Makenna Karas
“What I have, I don’t want to lose” reads the first line of the Thomas Brasch poem that João Luís Carrilho da Graça incorporates into his latest collection of images. Running like a current throughout each one is a strain of grief for the things that have already fallen out of your reach, like the fleeting moment that an image immortalizes. A renowned artist since 1977, Carrilho da Graça lives and works in Lisbon where he focuses on architecture and design. In his recent exhibition, “Pizzicato”, he has contributed a collection of polaroids to the ongoing “Pillow Books & Polaroids” project at the Incubator Photo Gallery in Portugal, where it will remain open through the end of the year.
©João Luís Carrilho da Graça Courtesy of the Incubator Photo Gallery
In partnership with Teatro Do Bairro, the project invites writers, filmmakers, economists, sculptors, and artists of every kind to step out of their comfort zone and create a raw, authentic display of who they truly are. Carrilho da Graça’s addition, “Pizzicato”, features a unique array of polaroids that contain selected words from poet Thomas Brasch. Together, the images and words speak to the universal longing for permanence that stems from the nostalgia and loss that we encounter throughout our ephemeral lives. Lines such as “Where I am, I don’t want to stay, but the one I love, I don’t want to leave” give voice to the uneasy restlessness that constitutes the human condition as it grapples with mortality, impermanence, and the ever-present longing for something more.
©João Luís Carrilho da Graça Courtesy of the Incubator Photo Gallery
Working in unison with the lines of the poem are the images themselves, each heavily focused on hands and what they choose to reach for. Elongated cones accentuate each finger, drawing attention to them, while simultaneously rendering them incapable of truly gripping onto anything. They exaggerate the fleeting nature of holding on to anything, revealing that it is all just always slipping away faster than we can understand. In one image, a girl closes her eyes and touches her own face with her covered fingers, providing a physical representation of the abstract desire each one of us has to understand who and what we are.
©João Luís Carrilho da Graça Courtesy of the Incubator Photo Gallery
The collection echoes the overarching mission of the entire project, clawing at the core of human existence, while also peering into the contradictory experience of simply being conscious. The words of Brasch perform a contradictory dance with the images, exclaiming a desire to both stay and go, die and live, and know what cannot be known. The last line reads “I want to stay where I have never been”, words that get scattered across an array of hypnotically strange and beautiful images. This combination conjures up an experience of reflection that provokes the viewer to ponder their own, deep-seated desires for this life, and whether their hands are reaching out for them or not. Included in the end are the years of Brasch’s birth and death, punctuating that reflection with the inescapable knowledge of mortality.
©João Luís Carrilho da Graça Courtesy of the Incubator Photo Gallery
