TAMAR GRANOVSKY, SHORTLISTED 3RD BIENNIAL’S GRANT
tamar@tamargranovsky.com
This Miracle
Bahia State, Brasil. 2015 – .
This Miracle, is a personal exploration into the human landscape of Brasil’s Bahia State.
It offers a small view of a complex place where people struggle daily to survive and are
sustained by core family values, religious practices, and the unifying, ephemeral
spirituality of saudade - an ache for something long gone or yet to come. The glimpses of
joy I witnessed there contrasted sharply with the stark sense of abandonment I perceived
lurking just beneath the surface. This pervasive mood of sadness at having been forgotten
draws me into a paradoxical feeling of coming home, despite being a stranger. It is a
mirror in which I am reflected.
The work is a montage of related images that, together, unveil the common threads that
bind us as individuals - memories, connection, family, home, and longing.
I photograph what touches me. This Miracle represents my understanding of this
evocative and poignant place - of what is, as well as what seems, there.
ARTIST STATEMENT
I try to capture small truths in my photographs, with the aim of drawing a visual and
emotional map of people and place. Returning to specific locations again and again
gives me entrance to other worlds and allows me to immerse myself, to follow my own
connections with the subject, and to catch a glimpse of what goes on beneath the
surface.
I am drawn to familiar and seemingly ordinary "things" that are inextricably connected to
the people who live in these environments. This does not mean that I am disinclined
toward people - I feel quite the opposite. For me these things typically reveal the human
presence, which is what attracts me to them. I move in close - it is my way of touching it.