Julia Both Marchizio

Híbrido Afeto

"Híbrido Afeto" is a relational aesthetics hybrid installation and experimental video collage animation conquered through the inspiration of my Grandma’s Brazilian living room and the movement of projected image reflections. This piece explores the themes of migration, dual nationality, cultural hybridity and multilingualism.

“This piece consists of a classic Brazilian living room disposition, composed of a loveseat, a recliner chair, a TV rack, a TV, a console table, a rug, curtains, couch covers, pillows, and miscellaneous Brazilian objects. Such as, two decks of cards from the most common Brazilian brand, several records from Brazilian bands, a conch found in a southern Brazilian beach, a broken incense holder with old ashes that I got as a present on my last trip to Brazil, as most Brazilian people have the habit of lighting incense in their homes, and Brazilian literary classics. These aspects ensure the visitor is displaced to a Brazilian setting.Moreover, I aim to cater this hybrid environment with the projectors playing videos of pictures taken in Brazil and Canada to represent my memories and imaginary, this feeling is evoked through the effect achieved by the reflections of these projected images once they bounce off of the several hanging mirrors, providing the audience with an experimental collage animation that fluxes in space. In addition, the TV displays Canadian landscape recordings, accompanied by their tailored soundscapes. Placing the audience in a constant fluxus between Canada and Brazil. The work of Rirkrit Tiravanija inspired the use of relational aesthetics as a way to build community within the installation, attract people to the work location through the use of smell, and improve the immersiveness of the piece by adding the smell of pão de queijo (cheese bites), something extremely characteristic of any Brazilian home. Furthermore, the idea for the room display and furniture came from the work of Pipilotti Rist, who explores the genre of experimental video art, often bringing dream-like environments to life using furniture, image projection and abstract designs on their walls. Janet Cardiff’s also influenced this piece with her work The Forty Part Motet encouraging me to think further into sound as a powerful tool to engage the public, through her piece I dived into the technical sides of how sound works in a space and decided on the amount and placement of speakers and soundtracks, as well as soundtrack themes. And lastly, Sarah Sze’s practice influenced me to expand my initial visual concept for this piece and really push the boundaries of space and intricacy of the installation. Reflecting its title, Híbrido Afeto (Hybrid Affection) in English, inserts the audience in the psyche of my fragmented migrant journey and hopes to provide a space of comfort and community for migrants that are still in the early frightening stages of understanding this new environment they are in and can relate to my experience. I want to portray the message that even though the pain will still be there, places and people in Canada will also become part of their affectionate memories as they live through this yet unknown landscape. We will always feel like a part of us is in our home country, but I want to highlight that a part of us is also in this present moment and space. I hope my piece can evoke the feeling of finding yourself in between places in your migrant identity as something fluid, comfortable and fun that we are constantly exploring as part of our cultural hybridity. Ultimately, my main goal with this project is to bring more migrants and underrepresented groups into the gallery and academic art spaces to experience art works that speak to them.”