10 Questions with Ana Pinho Vargas

Al-Tiba9 Art Magazine ISSUE16 | Featured Artist

Ana Pinho Vargas is a Portuguese artist, photographer, and painter based in Vila Nova de Gaia, Porto.

She has a Master degree in Photography from the School of Arts of Portuguese Catholic University in Porto in 2022 and a Bachelor degree in Photography and Visual Culture from the Faculty of Design, Technology and Communication in IADE European University in Lisbon in 2019. Ana studied music from a young age, starting with violin and then the piano and harpsichord.

Her main exhibitions include Silêncio, part of X'18, a collective exhibition in Mute Gallery in Lisbon in 2018, and O diário, part of the Panorama21, a collective exhibition in the School of Arts of Portuguese Catholic University in Porto in 2021.

Her artistic practice involves music, photography, and abstraction. She thinks about the image musically, trying to create times, rhythms, and harmonies from it. The search for different melodic forms acts as a means of abstract self-representation, where she records her own reality.

www.anapinhovargas.com | @anapinhovargas

Silêncio II | Project Statement

Silêncio II is the result of the junction of two coexisting universes: writing in musical scores and the artist in his most fragile physical humanity, revealing the intimacy of the eye through the close connection between the author and the person being photographed. A nostalgic look emerges from the shapes and textures of the sheets of music paper, reconstructing reflections of memories. The records of different elements of the body suggest the identity of the author's parents, both musicians and interpreters, becoming vulnerable through their gaze.

As her father said, "each new work is an open space" and this series is a mirror of that, that side of continuity and openness. Ana would like these images to convey a sensitivity, a moment of delicacy, a pure feeling and an invisible poetry. All the photographs were taken between 2018 and 2020.

The image tells something about the author's personal sensitivity and subjective outlook, with the intuition that the photographic image can be understood not necessarily as a realistic record but also and, essentially, as an interpretation. Therefore, it is a deconstruction of the mere representation of reality, where the search for "silêncio" (silence) is constant.

AL-TIBA9 ART MAGAZINE ISSUE16

INTERVIEW

First, let's discuss your background. Please tell us more about yourself and how you began making art.

Let me introduce myself. I am Ana Pinho Vargas, a photographer and painter from Portugal. I have always been interested in arts, starting very young. I come from a family of musicians; my parents are both musicians; my father is a pianist and composer, my mother is a harpsichordist and a music teacher, and my twin brother is a double bass player currently in the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra. So, art started with music, and I was always fascinated and curious. Then, I became interested in drawing and painting in high school. I was always very observant and very attentive to everything that surrounded me. I loved colors, painting, textures, and anything that had art in it; I thought it was beautiful. I always had sketchbooks with me to draw, and I started applying them to photography.
The idea to pursue photography came later after I did a workshop in Lisboa. I loved everything about it. At the time, I was taking painting and drawing classes, but after that experience in the workshop, I realized that I really loved taking pictures. That's when I began studying photography at university. It really changed my perspective of what I saw and what surrounded me. I started seeing everything with different eyes.

You've studied and exhibited in both Lisbon and Porto. How have these cities and their artistic communities influenced your work and artistic development?

I always enjoyed walking in the cities and photographing—one of the most captivating things about Lisbon is the light, the buildings, and the people. In Porto, it's more about the culture, the beautiful streets and churches, and the beautiful river. 
In Lisbon, I studied for three years in the Faculty of Design, Technology, and Communication at IADE European University. Throughout those years, I really started getting into photography. I participated in my first collective photography exhibition and showed my work in a gallery for the first time. I'm very grateful for all that I've learned during that experience. I was part of a group that organized the exhibition, and I got to learn more about photography, printing, and framing with teachers and a strong photography community.
In Porto, I did my master's degree in photography at the School of Arts of Portuguese Catholic University. I already had experience with photography, but during this time, I became acquainted with the work of so many amazing photographers and artists who helped me reach my full potential. I read many books, articles, theses, and interviews for my master's thesis, all of which helped me realize that there was more to photography than I thought. The artistic community was very captivating. The more I photographed, the more I enjoyed photography. It became a kind of an obsession.

Your background in music, starting with the violin and later exploring piano and harpsichord, deeply influences your visual art. How do these musical experiences shape your approach to photography and painting?

Playing different instruments gave me a sense of understanding music, and I was also in the choir at the same time. I tried all these instruments, and the one I liked the most was the harpsichord, which I studied for more than four years. Music has been a big part of my artistic projects, both in photography and painting, in two different ways. 
In photography, it all started with the idea of "musical image". But what is a "musical image"? Well, one might say that it is two experiences combined: the visual and the auditory. The photographic image becomes musical by using musical and visual elements identical to aspects of objects related to music, such as the musical sheet and scores. For example, the horizontal line, in musical terminology, represents the musical score, but it can also represent a long note. In the image, the horizontal line can represent the musical score, continuity, sequence, movement, or rhythm. It is a graphic symbol that serves as an image approximation to the rhythmic notation of music. 
I think that my personal experience with music, playing those instruments, has made a huge impact in my artistic work even if it is not visible at times, it is always present. Music can evoke all kinds of imagination. I think about the image musically. I believe that photography is not only about images: it's an experience, a "performance."
In painting, the musical experience expresses itself in a completely different way. It is more like an inspiration: visually, sometimes it's present in the way I paint, the position I use the brush, and the melodies that I try to create in the paintings more than the actual materials being present. It is also a sound inspiration: most of the time, when I am painting, I listen to all kinds of music, including classical, pop, country, K-pop, and opera. It inspires me in so many ways, from the sound to the different melodies, the beat, the notes, the rhythms, everything. 
A few months ago, I did a series of several drawings with only a black pen, and what I did was I followed the music with the pen: every change that happened in the music, I would try to transpose it in the drawing. And I did it several times, and it became a series that I called "Sinfonia (Subjetiva)" ("(Subjective) Symphony"), which is the title of the music that I was hearing while painting; it is a piece of music composed by my father.

Your artistic practice involves a blend of music, photography, and painting. How do you balance and integrate these different mediums in your creative process?

I enjoy combining music, photography, and painting, as well as using different techniques to portray my vision. With painting, it's all about creating an atmosphere, a subjective and abstract work. I have an idea, and I paint it. Music and photography are all about the subject of the photo, most of the time an object. It's a physical and concrete object, but it's also the experience, reality, and contexts in which the photo is taken and the way that the object inserts itself that determines the nature and extension of the abstraction of the photographed object. These mediums are used in different ways but all with the same objective: to portray an idea, most times a visual idea, into an actual photograph or drawing. 

You describe your work as creating "times, rhythms, and harmonies" from images. Can you explain how you translate musical concepts into visual forms?

Music is not an object or a physical element but exists in the image metaphorically: the image is influenced by a set of factors, musical factors, captured from a set of musical objects. The objects, in this case, the musical sheets and scores, are deprived of their original function and are transposed into another abstract, pictorial, and photographic dimension. The sound lives in the image as an interior place, as a memory. The silence of an image can suggest sound. For example, we can relate the positioning of each sheet of music and the negative space of the image with the distribution of musical notes in a musical sheet based on visual similarities that are possible to detect and observe in the photographic image.  Each line, shape, and texture results in a combination of dynamic elements in the image, in which the sound is present in the quality of rhythms, times, and harmonies, of rhythmical language that "invades" the visual reading of the image.
The relation that I create of the image as a visual form not only happens from subjectivity or the abstract reading of objects; it also arises from visual experience. The object reveals and the observer sees and contemplates. The photographic image represents the movement and the different visual sensations. Although the photographic image captures a static moment, what it really shows and ends up transmitting is a metaphor: its movement, cadence, melody, and music.
The image is the expression of sound as space, meaning, the image doesn't, literally, represent a sound but it creates an expression of the space as a sound. The music or glimpses of musical memories are expressed through something that is not, apparently, musical - the photographic image.  

Your work, Silêncio II, explores themes of nostalgia and memory through musical scores and body elements. What inspired you to focus on these themes, and how do they relate to your experiences?

In this work, I focused on my own experience with the music, the musical scores and the different body elements of my parents. My own experience through musical scores is very related with memory and nostalgia because I was always surrounded by all things related to music and it always fascinated me.
Memories live in the image, on the one hand, in a way that is always intangible, subjective, and immaterial, as in the musical scores, and on the other hand, in a clearly visible and objective way based on the photographed objects, as in the body elements. The nostalgia and memory present in the musical scores and body elements are evoked in a different way because what they both represent ends up being different. 
Certain aspects of memory are transmitted from the sensations present in the photographic image: that is, a musical idea, a sensation of rhythm or another musical aspect is manifested from the sound memory and from the image itself.
I remember that in my parent's studios, when we lived in Lisboa, there were always a lot of musical scores throughout the space. I always relate the music with the person: that's when the body elements come in - the eyes and the hands are elements that are essential to play any instrument.

In Silêncio II, you aim to convey a sensitivity and a pure feeling through your images. What techniques or approaches do you use to evoke these emotions in your audience?

I think that the closeness in which I photograph has everything to do with me trying to portray a sensitivity and pure feeling through the photographs. The musical sheets that I photograph are very delicate and old, therefore there is a sense of nostalgia in every image through the object.
You must really pay attention when observing these images. There are always second meanings in each photo: for example, in the handwriting of my father, in one of the images, there is the word "compôr" which means compose in a musical way. Another example is the marks in the musical sheets made by the clip that's holding all the sheets - it could be musical notes. So, I'm always trying to create connections between the objects by exploring new meanings. The search for "silêncio" (silence) is always constant. It is always an interpretation of reality.  

Your artist statement mentions the intimate connection between the author and the person being photographed. Can you elaborate on how you establish and capture this intimacy in your work?

This intimacy comes from the connection between me and my parents, the ones being photographed. I wanted to capture an intimate and close look at both my parents - really focus on their body elements, especially the eyes and the hands because that's what they use to play their instruments.
The idea was to work with the emotions and raw look that they portrayed and transform it into a work of art. I was always photographing the work itself, the music scores and sheets of both of them and never the musicians. And so, it only made sense that I should photograph the artists behind the art. 

You've exhibited your work in various collective exhibitions. How do these environments impact your artistic growth and the way you present your work? And what did you learn from these experiences?

I am always inspired by the fellow artists that exhibit their work alongside mine. These environments really helped me understand different approaches to photography but also how there are a huge number of ways to present any photography work.
The way that I present my work is different with every exhibition. For example, in 2018, when I exhibited my work "Silêncio" in the "X18" exhibition at Mute Gallery in Lisboa, I already had an idea of what I wanted to do early on, and I decided to have frames right away. In the "Panorama 21" exhibition in the School of Arts of Portuguese Catholic University in Porto in 2021, I wanted to do something different - I wanted to combine the photographs with the work of the diary, which I created during my master's and I thought of showcasing the diaries and the book next to the photographs. I had a vitrine and the photos on the wall just as I had sketched as inspiration. The diaries complemented the photographs, and the photographs complemented the diaries.

Lastly, speaking of exhibitions, do you have any new projects or exhibitions coming up? Where can our readers see your work next?

Yes I do. I will participate in the XV Florence Biennale in October of 2025 and I am still in talks but I will probably have an exhibition of my personal work in a gallery in Portugal at the end of this year. I will also have a project related to music starting in September of this year until the beginning of 2025, that will probably have an exhibition in Porto, which I'm very excited about. My work is also available on my website, and I am always posting updates and announcements on my Instagram.