metropolis m

The young Brazilian artist Jonathas de Andrade (b. 1982) makes conceptually-oriented work with a strong melancholic undertone. His work is being shown in Europe more and more often.

Dear Jonathas,

I have just come home after several days of absence. The regional delicacies I brought back from the Northeast are an attempt to make the trip last a few days longer. I have spent some time observing a place that at one time was so much a part of me that it became me. It has taken me all these years of living far away from the Northeast to admit that I am incurably a Northeasterner at heart. Me, of all people; and us, of all people – unattached and inquisitive individuals who have always felt we belonged everywhere. The world seems obvious and accessible to our wishes. We can make a home wherever we need to, create our own contexts, establish our own connections, and build our own friendships like nomads, or like natives of wherever we happen to be.

Travelling the world as my highway, I touched down on our homeland in passing. It got me teary eyed. Our native landscape has the Atlantic Ocean to the east, a warm-water region abounding with fish. The breeze billows the sails of the seafaring fisherman under a sun that burns mercilessly the year round. White sand underfoot. A bare-chested, strong-armed fisherman at work. To the west, the same scorching sun, but no breeze or brine. Rain is almost divine, being so rare and eagerly proclaimed. The horseman of the backlands shields his heart in leather armour, protecting himself from the thorny and barren scrubland as he looks for a spot to cultivate. Red-earth land. An armoured, strong-armed, hardworking backlander. Both men are one and the same – not on the shores or in the backlands, but in the city. Both are you, the Northeasterner.

… …

READ THE FULL ARTICLE IN METROPOLIS M No. 5-2012

+ a free copy of the catalogue of the Amsterdam Pavilion – 9th Shanghai Biennale