10 Questions with Aline Cavalcante

Aline Cavalcante (Brazil, 1980) is a visual artist and photographer who graduated in Journalism (2004). Her trajectory as a photographer passed through many places within the commercial area, but it was in the development of an authorial project that she found her identity as an artist. Since 2018 her research has focused on the analog processes of photography. In her productions, she mainly develops works in the field of experimentation with collage and three-dimensionality.

Her work is focused on emotions, and she seeks to represent through memories the relationship between people and space. Analogic and digital collages, interferences, and photo assemblies with repetitive effects are the basis of the works that have already participated in exhibitions in Brazil and abroad, besides having received recognition in international awards.

www.alinecavalcante.com | @alinecavalcantesilva

INTERVIEW

First of all, introduce yourself to our readers. What is your artistic background, and how did you start experimenting with images? 

I am Aline Cavalcante, a Brazilian artist, and photographer currently based in Sao Paulo. I graduated in Journalism, and my professional trajectory passed through photojournalism in many places within the commercial area, but it was in the development of an authorial project that I found my identity as an artist. My interest is focused on visual art, mainly experimenting with the analogue processes of photography. My work seeks to mix principles of two-dimensional photography, collage, and three-dimensionality. The printed photo, the experimentation with the digital, and cutting as subversion in the sense of deconstructing and reconstructing the image were triggers in my process to create images.

Why are you an artist, and when did you first become one? 

My curiosity led me to take a risk to create with photography and research to try techniques that challenge me. Only in 2018 I started experimenting with old processes of photography and mixed techniques as collages. In that year, I introduced a workshop with my artwork, and that opportunity led me to my first experience as an artist in 2019 when I was invited to participate in a collective exhibition at an Art Festival in Brazil. Since that moment, I have kept producing and participating in exhibitions and art prize competitions in my country and abroad. One experience leads me to another opportunity, and other, and so on. 

You studied journalism before turning to photography. How does it influence your work? 

I fell in love with photography during the Journalism course. I worked for a few years in some communication areas, always together with photography (as a photojournalist). However, something was bothering me about the way I showed my work. I wanted more of those flat images, and the digital medium only reinforced my desire to expand to visual experiences as 3D, and the hybrid images look like a good way to stimulate the common imagery.

How would you define yourself as an artist today? 

As a quiet and curious person who falls in love with any kind of photography art and, because of that, wants to show her new approaches to photography to as many people as possible.

Can you tell us about the process of creating your work? How do you go from the first idea to the final outcome? 

Normally I begin in an intuitive way. I just take pictures, even if I do not know what I will do with them. First, I go out to look for the scenes that call my attention in the landscape of the city and choose some images that tell me something. Then I print the images to choose those that I will work on. So on, I begin to test ideas and materials to see what works for them or not. All processes take a few weeks or months.  

What themes do you pursue with your work? 

I produce into the ludic and experimentation inside the architecture, landscape, and city. I use those subjects because I have a feeling about the places that I pass by, be on a travel vacation, residency, or tour of my city. The scene stimulates me to represent the relationship between people and places.  

What’s the essential element in your art? 

The visual experience is what I aim for with my art through the little parts that make the whole. Every piece of art I make leaves something to the audience. 

Do you find that the shift to digital exhibitions and art fairs has helped you promote your work? 

I believe that both are complementary to artist circulation and artwork sales. In the beginning, I had some difficulty introducing my work to digital platforms. Still, nowadays, the internet has many options to promote artworks, and I consider that digital is a way to achieve more people the way the art fairs achieve other marketplaces. 

What do you think about the art community? Do you feel you have found your place there? 

The art community is an environment eclectic, inspiring, and rich in production. There is space for all. I am a curious person, and everything interests me. Because of that, I try to circulate in different groups and know different places to maintain fresh ideas and an open mind and find new opportunities to decide what I will do next.

Finally, any projects you are looking forward to for this year? 

For this year, I am developing a new project to explore others ways to do analogue photography, but it is still at an experimentation level. At the same time, I am still promoting my last artwork for exhibitions.