anna
ortega
2020 | Video digital HD, 20’21”, sound, loop
Table dialogues is a 20min video piece which presents daily life during one of it’s key-moments: the meal. I shot from my place in the table - this spot where we pause, where we meet, where what’s from the outside enters home, where we talk and listen. I find in the moving images another way of portraying my Mom, Grandma and Aunt. Here the dialogues are the triggers for the narrative. We’re lead by the mystery of the gestures and the ordinary things said while we eat. At the same time we know it’s the table of my family, who watches ends being invited to seat as well. Doesn’t eat, or talk, but it’s offered the possibility of having a dialogue with the four women.
Table Dialogues | Video Frames
I'm sitting in the table
and what I see
from where I am
are roots
stems
that's the wright word:
stems. flower stems
but I like to think
they are are roots
in the water
that's what I see
I hear the voices
who raised me
and smell
there's cassava today
for dinner
and my mom asks
do you like it?
yes
my aunt sings
and sudently
it's already night
time to eat the soup!
and I wonder
what we share
when we share the table?
what we share
when we share the life?
since birth
since I don't remember when
it's the poetic of the affect
vase means
a recipient to hold
she's quiet
silent
but when you hear
you will know
it's her
who holds the house
and holds me
grandma
the first
of us four
the one who teach us
that a house
without flowers
it's a home
without life
she would say
be careful
entering a place
with no fresh flowers inside
if it lacks flower
it's missing care
and care
is a decision
constant caring
the flowers are here now
from where I am
you walk straight
turn left
turn right
and you will see the vase
but the table is empty now
it's early morning
in my hometown
***
*table dialogues presented at Museu do Estado do Pará, during 11th Diario Contemporâneo de Fotografia - national photography prize placed in Belém do Pará
*montagem da obra no Instituto de Artes Visuais do Rio Grande do Sul/Museu de Arte Contemporânea do Rio Grande do Sul (macrs), durante a exposição Geografias Afetivas. abril de 2022..
