Dandara Catete
Reino de Granadas, 2015
Site-specific project for Bangu I Art Residency
Process of Reino de Granadas (Kingdom of Grenades 2015), as part of Bangu I Art Residency, project promoted by the visual artist, Aleta Valente. Bangu, the district where she lives in Rio de Janeiro, is considered by far one of the most dangerous places of Rio. Since there was a pomegranate tree in her backyard, I made an attempt at re-signifying this modest environment. A bed’s headboard transformed the improvised portal on the brick wall into an ornamented Andalucian door, even though the recycled material brings us back to its humble vocabulary. The title plays on two antagonistic concepts: on one hand the urban war that permeates the reality of Bangu, and on the other, the idylic reality of the majestuous arquitecture of Andalucía.