Curated by Tiago de Abreu Pinto

March 3 – 25, 2021

max wíllà morais

presentation (from mudança/to change series), 2020

Camera: max wíllà morais and her mother Elenice Guarani. Featuring: Elenice Guarani and visible and invisible things. Duration 4’50”

Chapter 2

— Is it about nature? — leaning forward.

— It can be — nodding calmly.

— But…

— But, it has more to do with to show, to hide — with a pause — rastejante.

— Crawling — with a head nod — And, this sort of mask — pointing — is to you part of a family of things and clothing, right?

— Yes. And, it’s a way to show and to hide — winking.

— Which occur simultaneously — with expectation.

— Yes. There are things — amiably — that we don’t see that are before what we see.

— And, the things we don’t see before the ones we do see have to do with apparitions.

— With a specific apparition. An apparition — rolling her eyes up and closing them — that I was having and that someone touched me.

— Bringing you — pointing to her — back to what we all see — gesticulating to the both of them.

— Yes, from a state or place I was but for some reason I wasn’t protected there, from that specific stimuli.

— From the touch — cracking fingers.

— From that contact.

— You were revealed.

— Unveiled. And, the mask, you are mentioning, is for that purpose: protection.

— It permits you to not get so exposed.

— I believe so. And, it was something that was accompanying me. It protected me, yes.

— It was… Now, I see. It was accompanying you as your family.

— And — agreeing with a head nod — a member of my family, my sanguinial family, films me. She films me and I film her.

— So, to show and to hide are being seen…

— Yes.

— … and this thing is being activated, it comes to being through your mother…

— That’s it.

— and then I wonder what it is showing and hiding in this context.

— It marks the time of appearance of this contact…

— Of whom?

— These two families — holding up the hands.

— To show, to hide rastejante…

— Yes, and my mother.

— So, the relation between this object being (that is To show, to hide rastejante) and the human being (that is your mother)…

— She treats it with care, don’t you see?

— Yeah, when she caresses its hair.

— And, it’s a short period of encounter.

— That suddenly vanishes when you start painting her face…

— What happens with the papers we see…

She gazes down reading on the table some charcoal legend: we see how the change distributes itself.

— … they’ve turned themselves into drawings.

— The words disappeared?

— Yes. And, it marks the change of our home.

— What…

— The words on charcoal.

— What happened?

— It’s all about the change. I did it to register a change we were going through. Our home was changing. Structurally, speaking.

— That’s why her face can’t be seen in its entirety.

— Since the change is also associated with the face, our identity, the way people see us and identify us and in a way access us. Cara (face) and Casa (home).

— How to see in our homes and on our faces the change.

— How I’m being seen by her and how I see her.

She shows the paper: how we, things, bichos and bichas, appear and disappear.

— And, suddenly it has to do with ‘bicha’ in portuguese…

— That pejoratively means something like sissie and for me etymologically a non-binary critter, beast or animal.

— Not just that. It means larva, reptile, worm, leech…

— When will it change? — sad looking eyes.

— How to see or, better, perceive the change?

— …

— When it appears and disappears.

— …

— But, you asked me about the mask that suddenly vanishes…

— Yes, I did. When you start painting her face. Why? — murmuring.

— Because then I’m adorning her. I’m enchanting with her. She becomes the enchanted. It’s a preparation for the spell — almost whispering.

— Which spell?

— The enchantment and the chant here are the same. They are both visible and invisible.

— …

— It’s all elliptical.

— …

— Can’t you see it? All the golden teeth are hidden when the mouth is shut.

max wíllà morais, presentation (from mudança/to change series), 2020, Camera: max wíllà morais and her mother Elenice Guarani, Featuring: Elenice Guarani and visible and invisible things, Duration 4’50”