In an infinitesimal fraction of the first second after the Big Bang, the Universe grew enormously, exponentially, creating a global pattern that we see as uniform: galaxies, empty space, galaxies, empty space…Life begins with death.
Life — this complex arrangement of chemical elements — begins with the death of the stars. When stars die, they throw into space the elements created in their core. New stars are born from them, which in turn die and spread their elements again. Life thus arises, from the accumulation of elements created by generations and generations of stars. Looking at the sky, unravelling the mysteries of life, means looking back through time.
Life is their remnants, the vestige of stars. The stars in this infinite blow are made from the remnants of life fixed on photographic paper. As the testimony of a compulsion to register, photography can only give us a narrow view of someone’s life. With death — or just with the obliviousness that comes with the passing years — photographs become evidence, but also the unwanted or unappreciated remnants we discard or destroy.
The piece suggests an approximation of scales, the exceedingly small and the exceptionally large. The scale of our daily lives and their place within the vastly immense Cosmos. The remains of these images are arranged in such a way that they simulate the animations made from the image of our universe known as the Hubble Deep Field, produced with the data collected by the Hubble Space Telescope. The simulation in In an Infinite Blow is deliberately fragile. The material character of the photographic remains is still there and transports us to what may be galaxies of experiences and memories, interspersed by the empty and black space of oblivion. Galaxies, empty space, galaxies, empty space… In some way, the artist remains faithful to the idea that photography gives us access to past experiences, even if only through its pulverized and shapeless remains. In this piece, the artist continues her research, focused on the production of images using the material remains of other images.
Andreia Páscoa