As an image archaeologist, Helena Martins-Costa rescues photographs from oblivion: decontextualized, rephotographed, enlarged, cut out, decapitated or regrouped, creating a suspended time in which spontaneity and manipulation, past and present, death and permanence intrigue and involve the observer.
A visual artist with a bachelor’s degree in photography from the UFRGS Arts Institute and a Master’s degree in visual poetics from ECA-USP, Helena Martins-Costa (Porto Alegre, 1969) is interested in the construction of the photographic image, the conventions that determine a priori how photographs, especially portraits, are constructed – beyond the identities they may contain. Helena does this based on a meticulous work of portrait genealogy: research and manipulation of old images, often ancient records of anonymous people, collected at auctions, thrift shops and antique fairs. In a process of photographic archaeology, the artist rescues the rejected records, which have survived oblivion, operating cut-outs and identifying similarities and typologies that are not always explicit. Thus, she brings to the surface unforeseen and fascinating relationships in stuff of very diverse cultural and geographical origins, simultaneously articulating truth and lies, unpredictability and construction, document and monument. Helena, who lives and works in São Paulo/SP, has held several solo and group exhibitions in Brazil and abroad and has had works included in collections such as MAM-SP and MAM-RJ.
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Helena Martins-Costa
Por um Fio | Partitura 05, 2013-2022
Pigmento sobre papel algodão
160 x 80 cm
Helena Martins-Costa
Por um Fio | Partitura 04, 2013-2022
Pigmento sobre papel algodão
160 x 80 cm
Helena Martins-Costa
Por um Fio | Partitura 01, 2013-2022
Pigmento sobre papel algodão
160 x 80 cm
Helena Martins-Costa
Por um Fio | Partitura 02, 2013-2022
Pigmento sobre papel algodão
160 x 80 cm
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