With particular interest in the relationship between the individual and the space that surrounds it, the work of Natercia Caneira has unfolded around the issues of body and landscape, as well as the importance of the geographical shift has on the development of the artist's creative process, a method that was evident in her last artistic residence in Pedra da Sina. in Funchal.
The installation of this exhibition is inspired by what?
Natércia Caneira: In the issues of light and how people move in space, is one of the things that interest me, in this case when I went to the house and talk with the group we agreed that one of the rooms would be used by me. Then from there I start to build the installation, as I was also living in the same building site and start depending on my perception of that space. My relationship with the light, with the window, with the lamps, which were already in the room, them they gave me two hangers to hang my clothes that I also decided to join in the work. Later the installation began to grow and I asked two more hangers in the end are built around these two objects found here. On the street I found on the floor kapok, is a tree that exists on the island, had never seen a live one and this type of ball has a great ability to reflect light. It is a material that is white, but when the light hits it reflects glare, this seed was also integrated into the piece. The material used is a thread that is made of kapok woven. The logic was to integrate what has been found here these two weeks I was here and that interested me, because it has to do with my ideas of light, space and lines. And during the day is completely different, because the light that enters through the window reflects the sparkles of the material itself. At night the light controlled by me, creates an environment totally opposite, brightness softer, more relaxed. The way the installation is built also allows people to walk in space, becomes in part, that may interact with it by touching the materials and walking around, creating this kind of dance between the object and the visitor, the fact that you can enter through one door and exit by another, it was all things I was thinking while building the piece.
Then you considered yourself a visual artist?
NC: Yes, I am a person who comes from the field of painting and drawing, sculpture, and after that I focused on these issues of scale, space and the human body around this dynamic. My work is in fact an installation for a particular site, is a space designated to me and I create from there. I also work with photography and video, with several different materials and techniques, but always following these concerns I have and that has to do with space.
What are the predominant factors which attract you in relation to a space over another?
NC: I am usually very flexible on this issue. I like to try different places. Make a proposal to a particular location and then adapt me to space with the consent of the people there. In this case, we have agreed in relation to that room because it had two entrances, allowing people move from one place to the other. Choose this kind of sites that allow visitors to enter and exit, move more easily along the work piece.
Light and shadow are important in your work?
NC: Yes, extremely important.
And the scales are always present?
NC: Yes, in everything I do. It is a constant. In drawing, photography, installations of sculpture, for me one of the factors that most attract me is to work with our body scale, the space and our perception of reality. Get an idea if it is light, it is lines, this logic of how we perceive our ecosystem, all that is about us, that same reality.
The color is not a priority in your work.
NC: I'm quite interested in the subtlety of color. The way the light falls on the material and how it reflects light, I'm not interested if the color condenses. Although I paint on canvas with gold and silver. What interest me are more issues of transparency, luminosity.
It is difficult to master these aspects? Since it has always been a concern of artists over the centuries, especially in painting, how to master the light.
NC: I think it's a fascination that has always existed. I speak for myself, is a fascination for beauty and enchantment, for example, seeing a sunset, the sun makes a different effect, which is engraved in our memory and we do not know why. At other times the artists tried to copy this effect, through painting, to me it makes no sense to copy, it is more important to create an environment that somehow appeals to the visitor that curiosity, that moment of contemplation.
What inspires you?
NC: What inspires me most particularly is walking along looking to create those moments, that first of all fascinate me and I can later fascinate others. It is almost a will to grasp the ephemeral. Light is ephemeral and it delights me the no material, so I build work pieces in space, the idea of almost draw a line in the air.
What is your next step?
NC: I am traveling; I will be in France alone. I'm thinking now more on the body rather the space, the physicality of the body, the matter, and it interests me. I have an ongoing project that deals with the ephemerality of the body.
