“I always romanticized and idealized that return to lost paradise” – Bárbara Assis Pacheco
This third edition presents the artist Bárbara Assis Pacheco, who according to herself makes “drawings and things”. Although she does not define herself as an illustrator or painter, she seems unable to disassociate herself from the universe of her drawings. Her work circulates among plants, animals, pools, and the tropical worlds that fascinate her.
This video-portrait is a journey into the inner world of Bárbara Assis Pacheco, a world where the rules imposed by contemporaneity are subverted. Through the eyes of Joana Linda we will have the opportunity to get to know the lightness, freedom, and spontaneity of this artist, featured in our May issue.
Talk with Joana Linda
1) It has most of the time been the first question. But, along the lines of the magazine, we think it’s important to start like this: why did you choose to film Bárbara Assis Pacheco?
Bárbara has been a friend of mine for several years, and in addition to her friendship, of course, I also appreciate her work and her attitude within the artistic world. I wanted someone whose work I liked and with whom I identified, but also someone who inhabited her own space in the national creative scene. Bárbara lives proudly on the margins of social networks, she doesn’t even have a cell phone, she doesn’t surrender or let herself be seduced by modernity. She lives and works in her atelier, a space out of time, a cabinet de curiosités, as she describes it, a collection that blends with her life and her work. That originality – which doesn’t change with political correctness or pressure of popularity – interests me.
2) Do you feel similarities between your creative process and Barbara’s?
Yes, Bárbara talks about it in this video, the fast way things must flow. A certain immediacy that is not in line with perfectionism but that has other qualities. I am also like that, more of a possession than of reason.
3) We sense a lightness (in a good way) in how Bárbara seems to look at/handle her art. I don’t know if you agree, or if you have that same reading….
Bárbara is free. That lightness comes from the freedom around which she has managed to build her life and her work – I keep mentioning these two things together because in Barbara’s case I believe they are one. I often remember her telling me: “I don’t do commissions, don’t insist, I don’t do them”. A rule that is only broken when she understands it and at the service of those who understand it. And if this freedom implies a privilege that is not within everyone’s reach, it is above all a conscious choice and a lifestyle.
4) Your video-portrait was, perhaps – at least for us – the most unusual. In a good way. Although we know some of your work with this type of collage, we were not expecting this execution. What gave you the idea for these montages, working with green screen and an actress walking over Barbara’s illustrations?
Going back to my previous answer, your proposal, despite being a commission, gave me the freedom to make any video I wanted. I always appreciate when I am given this freedom, so thank you. The choice of Bárbara as the artist portrayed also has to do with that, I knew she would give me the freedom to do whatever I wanted, without having to explain myself before or after. This trust is the greatest possible inspiration for me because my method of working always implies a high degree of risk. I like to “invent” as I go along, a method that not everyone can deal with. It is a creative act that thrives on lack of control, the absence of goals, and that responds to space, time (in the meteorological sense), and the people and emotions of the day. In fact, I don’t feel that I create, I feel that I evoke things. I don’t make them, I don’t pull rabbits out of the hat, I just discover their hiding places. In other words, what I did in this video for me is connected to the imaginary of Bárbara, to what that space evokes in me every time I visit it. Nothing is external or outside of it.
5) How was the challenge of representing someone else’s creative process?
It was great. I was good to myself, I chose an artist who I identify with and whose thinking I understand so it was pretty easy.
6) We know that you are used to holding the camera yourself, how was it working here in collaboration with a director of photography (Gonçalo Castelo Soares)?
Actually, it was very simple. Working alone is working without a network, sometimes it feels good to have someone to share responsibilities with. Delegating is easy when others understand us and respect our choices. This work with a director of photography other than me went very well because Gonçalo can not only correspond technically very well to my ideas but also complements them with his own. We had fun and we were both happy with the final result, that’s the best that can be said about a job.
I would like to use this question to also talk about Isadora Alves, the actress I invited to star in the video. Isadora also knows Bárbara and is part of our artistic family, so she was perfect. We didn’t need to explain anything to her, she naturally assumed the right role within this space. It is very important to work with people who appreciate and understand us.
7) This is also how we always close these talks, and with you it couldn’t be any other way: what is the voice you want to have as a director or director/photographer?
Mine, voice is like taste, it changes every x years.
BIOGRAPHIES
Bárbara Assis Pacheco
portrayed artist
Bárbara Assis Pacheco lives and works in Lisbon. Architecture degree (FAUTL, Lisbon) and Philosophy degree (FCSHUNL, Lisbon), in between she made Drawing and the Advanced Course in Visual Arts at Ar.Co (Lisbon). She was a participant in the first edition of the Photography course of Gulbenkian’s Creativity and Artistic Creation Program (PGCCA). She draws and makes things.
Joana Linda
director
Directed the short films Layla and Lancelot (DocLisboa ’16 premiere) and Em cada Lar Perfeito Um Coração Desfeito (IndieLisboa’13 premiere). She directed R&J, an adaptation of the play Romeo and Juliet with an all-female cast (premiere Temps D’Images, 2014). In addition to her authorial work, she works as a scene photographer in the areas of cinema and performing arts. She collaborates assiduously with Teatro do Silêncio and Teatro do Bairro Alto in the photographic and videographic recording of their performances. In the area of music, she made several video clips for various national musical artists that she also photographed as part of the promotion and identity of their records. Joana Linda has also participated in several individual and collective photography exhibitions.