534c - An Exploration of Blue
2019

Scientifically, all visible light can be measured on a spectrum of waves. The human brain perceives these visible wavelengths as ‘colours’. Throughout recordable history, these colours have become interwoven into the very fabric of the human experience. 

Colours transcend language and can function as a translator for emotions. In some cultures, blue has been associated with tranquillity and comfort. In contrast, it is also associated with melancholia and coldness. Blue is a physical phenomenon rooted in chemistry, biology and physics, and there is a duality in readings of this colour.

This project serves as a meditation on blue and its meaning to me in the context of my migration from Brazil to Australia – 15,569 km of blue, of water and sky. The blue (of distances) that contains all my love and my longing, and my incessant wanting to be where I am not.

For the project 534c - An Exploration of Blue, I collaborated with the ocean to make cyanotype prints. The cyanotype process was disturbed to allow chance and the elements to act as driving force in the making of prints. While traditionally prints are exposed for a short period of time, in this case the prints were exposed to the crashing of waves, the elements and sunlight for hours, or in some cases days. The choice of using such a controlled process at the mercy of elements that ultimately cannot be controlled references the enigmatic and dual nature of the colour blue, as well as the in-betweenness feelings that come with the act of migration.