Video stills from Sebastian, The Ghost, 2015
Fiction, 14’57’’, HDV, sound, color. 16:9.
With: Dona Helena, Nango, Fernandinha, Gustavo, Laison, Laidiane, Mudinha, Edinaldo, Erinaldo, Bequinha, Edivalda
Camera: Lúcia Prancha, Laura Shawelka
Editing, Directing, Sound, Color correction and typography: Lúcia Prancha
Locations: Lençóis, Maranhão, Brasil; CalArts - California - Institute of the Arts, California, USA.
Synopsis: Sebastian of Portugal disappeared in the battle of Alcácer Quibir and is often referred to as The Desired by the Portuguese. The people of Lençóis believe that the ghost of Sebastian of Portugal haunts their Brazilian island. Some see themselves as direct descendants of the king. They also believe that every first Friday of every month king Sebastian visits the beach in full armour and on his horse, and that a subterranean ouroboros will swallow the island some day. A group of people who inhabit the island of Lençóis on the Northeast of Brazil and their interest in the myth of D. Sebastião I (Sebastian of Portugal 1554-1578).
A short piece of fiction that embody the idea of the ghost. This video borrow techniques from traditional documentary, but questions its own liveliness and legitimacy, like that of a myth or a story archived and transmitted orally through generations. The project started with a residency in Lençóis and subsequent documentation of the stories as told by the locals. Most narrate their stories as resultant from visions experienced in the flesh, to the point of delirium. I transpose this irrational tension into the flesh of the film and the viewer as well. This project tackles an alternative view of the Portuguese colonization of Brazil because it deals with folklore and oral history at the same time as it takes the shape of a surreal fiction, a format that tends to seek the truth. The short fiction make tangible a ghost that might or not exist but that still embodies the lore of a group of isolated people, who turn to mysticism and religion centuries after the arrival of the Portuguese.
Press: Jornal Público (PT); Curtas Vila do Conde Film Festival (Eng).
(Room Divider)”, 2014 Coconut leave, rope, clay and spray paint. Dimensions Variable. 155 x 150 x 7 cm
Sebastian of Portugal disappeared in the battle of Alcácer Quibir and is often referred to as The Desired by the Portuguese. The people of Lençóis believe that the ghost of Sebastian of Portugal haunts their Brazilian island. Some see themselves as direct descendants of the king. They also believe that every first Friday of every month king Sebastian visits the beach in full armour and on his horse, and that a subterranean ouroboros will swallow the island some day. (Room Divider), 2014
Coconut leave, rope, clay and spray paint. Dimensions Variable. 155 x 150 x 7 cm
The piece was made in collaboration with the inhabitants of Lençóis (Brazil) using the handicraft process to produce doors and windows of their homes.
Exhibition view from Prémio Novo Banco Revelação 2014 Nova Fotografia em Portugal, Fundação Serralves, Porto, PT , 2014-2015
Sebastian, The Ghost
Exhibition view Prémio Novo Banco Revelação 2014 Nova Fotografia em Portugal, Fundação Serralves, Porto, PT , 2014-2015.
Albino Visions (Screensaver)
Intervention at Serralves Museum's monitors. You never know when the ghost appears...
Museum hall and cafeteria. Exhibition view Prémio Novo Banco Revelação 2014 Nova Fotografia em Portugal, Fundação Serralves, Porto, PT , 2014-2015.