Caio Reisewitz

Born 1967 in São Paulo, Brazil

Lives in São Paulo

One of the most important photographers in Brazil, Caio Reisewitz explores the difficult relations between humans and their environments, both natural and man-made. His theatrical and monumental colour prints meditate on power relations reflected in Brazil’s architecture, both the architectural heritage of Brazil’s colonial period and its innovative twentieth-century modernist architecture. Reisewitz’s recent works problematise the relationship between nature and the human desire to exploit it, in particular for land cultivation and the mining industry in Brazil. Interweaving historical and contemporary subjects, Reisewitz’s works frame nature changing at a rapid rate due to human activity on the planet. His collages radically modify the landscape which appears at once otherworldly and familiar.

Amazonia

Birds Mairiporã

Click here to view the original Mundus Subterraneaus

TAPEÚBA, 2021

ink-jet print, mounted on plexiglass

Courtesy the artist and Galeria Joan Prats, Barcelona

TIPIOCA, 2019

ink-jet print, mounted on plexiglass

Courtesy the artist and Galeria Luciana Brito, São Paulo

KUTUIM, 2022

ink-jet print, mounted on plexiglass

Courtesy the artist and Galeria Joan Prats, Barcelona

TAPYINDÉ, 2022

ink-jet print, mounted on plexiglass

Courtesy the artist and Bendana Pinel Art Contemporain, Paris

INTÁ, 2020

watercolor on canson paper

Courtesy the artist and Galeria Luciana Brito, São Paulo

INKÔ, 2020

watercolor on canson paper

Courtesy the artist and Galeria Luciana Brito, São Paulo

TIPUATA, 2020

watercolor on canson paper

Courtesy the artist and Galeria Luciana Brito, São Paulo

Commissioned by the Biennale of Sydney with assistance from the Consulate General of Brazil in Sydney

MUNDUS SUBTERRANEUS, 2022

UV print on wall

Courtesy the artist and Bendana Pinel Art Contemporain, Paris

Commissioned by the Biennale of Sydney with assistance from the Consulate General of Brazil in Sydney

‘I always want to speak about the system. It’s not all beautiful images; I want to speak about the very sad relationship between the Government and the people of Brazil.’

– Caio Reisewitz

One of Brazil’s most acclaimed photographers, Caio Reisewitz creates collages constructed from his own photographs as well as images from historical archives, print media and the Internet. They highlight issues of land and power, two areas that are central to his country’s history and identity.

MUNDUS SUBTERRANEUS is a large-scale collage created for the 23rd Biennale of Sydney, that includes photographic details of Brazil’s forests and rivers juxtaposed with images of: palafitas, houses built on stilts over water to protect from flooding; jackfruit, a nutrient source for many that is under threat from deforestation; the building of the Transamazônica, a system of highways devised in the 1970s to destroy huge swathes of the Amazon for settlement and agriculture; and far-right politicians who seek to capitalise on Brazil’s natural resources, passing legislation to decimate forests and privatise water.

Appearing throughout Reisewitz’s work are symbolic references to systems of power that maintain and amplify the corruption and socio-economic disparities rife in Brazil. Architecture is a key presence in this regard, most notably from the highly ornamental Baroque style introduced by Catholic missionaries aligned with Portugese colonisers, and the modern minimalist approach of Oscar Niemeyer a few centuries later, who designed much of the federal capital Brasília.

MUNDUS SUBTERRANEUS borrows its title from a seventeenth-century book by German Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher who wrote about interconnected systems of fire and water above and below the Earth’s surface. Reisewitz adopts ‘subterranean world’ as a metaphor for the complex issues facing contemporary Brazil.

23rd Biennale of Sydney (2022)

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