DRAWING TOOLS is an ongoing project that I started in the context of a jewellery workshop with Marília Maria Mira, 2009, Lisbon.
"Drawing Tools" are objects which find themselves in the grey area of being either a piece of jewellery, or a tool, or both. The materials used are silver, charcoal and graphite.
DRAWING TOOL n.6 . 2020
Silver and graphite, 3,2 x 1,3 x 2,3cm
Done at Atelier Cabine with Marília Maria Mira
DRAWING TOOL n.6 . 2020
Silver and graphite, 3,2 x 1,3 x 2,3cm
Done at Atelier Cabine with Marília Maria Mira
DRAWING TOOL n.5 . 2016
Drawing Tools is an object made of silver and coal from the old Carbonia mine in Sardinia. This object finds itself in the grey area of being either a piece of jewellery, or a tool, or both. This piece is ephemeral because its charcoal stone will disintegrate with time. The charcoal stays here as a material that allows one to draw, giving this object the function of a tool, but at the same time it works as a memory of a forest, drawing awareness to the period of coal mining in Carbonia and its historical context.Drawing Tools was made in collaboration with the goldsmith Franco Zedda, during the artist residency SulcisHub in Tratalias, Sardinia, curated by Olga Bachschmidt, with the kind support of BJCEM and the municipality of Tratalias.
The silver was kindly provided by Franco Zedda, Laboratorio Orafo of Iglesias. The coal was kindly provided by the Centro Italiano della Cultura del Carbone and the municipality of Tratalias.
After the residency in Tratalias, I developed a series of drawings called “Labor Drawings” with charcoal, coal from Sardinia and graphite on paper. This work reflects on the performance of work and labor, addressing the body as a tool, questioning its functionality while performing labor trying to address the question: Is the body who performs labor reduced to its functionality and consequently shaped by it? What is a human body when it isn’t confined to performing labor? Can we be without an occupational function?
Those drawings were realized with both hands and using some former Drawing Tools I realized in 2009. Each drawing consists of the registration of a repetitive and automatic gesture. The duration of each drawing was measured with a chronometer and can be seen in the title. The drawings in graphite were done and erased afterwards, so that what remains on the paper is a memory of a gesture that can also be understood as a scar or a body shaped by labor.
2016
Charcoal on paper
50 x 60 cm
Drawing done with two hands.
LB 10, 30’16’’
2016
Graphite on paper
50 x 60 cm
Drawing done with two hands, using silver rings with graphite.
Graphite and eraser on paper
50 x 60 cm
Drawing done with two hands, using silver rings with graphite.
2016
Graphite on paper
50 x 60 cm
Drawing done with two hands, using silver rings with graphite.
LB 14, 244’20’’
2016Graphite and eraser on paper
50 x 60 cm
Drawing done with two hands, using silver rings with graphite.
LB 21, 107’43’’
2016
Graphite and eraser on paper
58,5 x 57,5 cm
Drawing done with two hands, using silver rings with graphite.
2016
Graphite and eraser on paper
58,5 x 57,5 cm
Drawing done with two hands, using silver rings with graphite.
LABOR DRAWING
MiniDV, B&W, loop, silent, 2016
Direction, photography, editing and performance: Marta Leite
In the video Labor Drawing, a character draws with both hands onto the glass surface of a window pane, facing the spectator. She draws until the drawing lines cover her face completely. Towards the end she cleans the glass, goes out of the camera frame, comes back and starts drawing again. The action repeats itself in an endless loop. What is addressed here is the absurdity of labor and how this absurdity imposes itself on the ones who perform it.
DRAWING TOLLS I AND II . 2009
Silver and Charcoal. Done during the jewelry workshop lead by Marília Maria Mira in 2009.
“Drawing tools” are objects that find themselves in the grey area between a sculpture, a tool and a ring. Those pieces were done with the goal of relating a piece of jewel and tools as extensions of the human body. The chosen materials were coal, graphite and silver. Those objects can be use to draw, to look at, or to look through.
The material coal was chosen because of its vulnerability and fragility. The point of those pieces is that the material that they are made of can be depleted during the time that the drawing is made. A video performance was done in order to register the changeable nature of those objects.
DRAWING TOOLS III and IV . 2009
Silver and Graphite. Done during the jewelry workshop lead by Marília Maria Mira in 2009
This object follow the same concept of the previous ones. However, instead of charcoal, this time graphite was chosen as the material in order to make the execution of a drawing last longer, since graphite doesn’t erode as fast as charcoal. Those pieces were designed with the aim of freeing the hand from having to hold the pencil. While using drawing tools 3 and 4 the hand can move more freely on the paper and be used in a very different way. Those pieces can also be used without the graphite. In that way they can be used as windows or frames that help to organize the space around us.
DRAWING TOOLS VIDEO PERFORMANCE. 2010
MiniDV, 10'42'', 2010.
Camera: Mariana Gomes and Catarina Laranjeiro.
MiniDV, 10'42'', 2010.
Camera: Mariana Gomes and Catarina Laranjeiro.
Photos of the video-performance "Drawing tools"
Photos by Catarina Laranjeiro
Photos by Catarina Laranjeiro
