I offer my portrait as a memento is an archaeology of the intimacy that investigates the voids within the memories and the images by re-signifying family photographs. It emerges from the discovery of old portraits of my maternal grandmother, who used to be a public-school teacher and an embroiderer of fabrics and memories, and this work explores stories and forgotten fragments left out by photographs: what remains unsaid and unseen. In the portraits, my grandmother appears young and smiling, a contrast to the serious and reserved person I knew. The photographs, especially the family photos, tend to capture happy moments and do not reveal the pain and suffering experienced. Thus, each photograph is also a void—not only because it captures a vanished moment, but also because it is a mere patch of reality.

The work weaves together photographs, stitching and memories to dive into the subtext, the gaps and the absences within the images, in an attempt to empty and then fill. My grandmother’s original portraits were deconstructed; the images were re-photographed, cut, torn, stitched, and overlaid, incorporating pieces of crochet that belonged to her, alongside other elements and embroideries created specifically for the project. In the deconstruction process, new framing was explored, highlighting small parts and details of the images, as well as the reverse sides of the original photographs, affectionate dedications that accompanied the portraits, and the marks left by time on the photographic paper. Fragments of strangers’ photographs were found discarded and collected from the Acho archive in Campinas/SP and join the compositions, exhausting the original memories of the photos and proposing new narratives.

I offer my portrait as a memento explores the emptiness as a space for emotional potency and imagination, reconstruction, and presence. After all, in every attempt to empty the image, it re-emerges full of life.

The project includes a photo essay, a photobook (mock-up), a photo film, small objects, and embroidery.

Technical file: digital photography, objects and embroidery, photobook (mock-up), and a photo film with a duration of 9 minutes and 37 seconds.