top of page
the wandering abode of artist's books
and his wanderings
MALA - A Morada Andarilha de Livros de Artista - was born from the desire to provide a closer approach to the multiple universe of artist books. In them, images, photographs, drawings, writings, maps, graphics, among other elements, occupy pages, outlining constructive spaces and visual narratives that challenge our usual understanding of conventional books. This leads us to the question: after all, what possibilities do books offer as a support for artistic expression?
To try to answer this question, we designed an artistic residency focused on deepening creative processes and developing individual projects . It also aims to explore the themes underlying artistic production and build an axis that permeates these issues, providing guidance and references with the aim of expanding the visual poetic repertoire in its hybrid and interactive possibilities. This will enable the maturation of a personal language, integrated with content relevant to the sensorial and subjective reality of each participant.
All participants will be encouraged to complete an artist's book, which will be transported in a 'suitcase' to an international exhibition. In this first edition, we will have an exhibition in Mexico City, at the El Rule Cultural Center, during the Zócalo International Book Fair (FIL), in October 2024, and another in São Paulo, at Galeria Página, in November 2024.
displacements: contemporary perspectives
our 2024 theme
For this first edition, we propose a theme intrinsically linked to the conception of this project: displacement in space and time. Our special 'baggage' of books will have as its inspiring "motus" the rich territory of associations, allusions and resignifications provided by the vast work of Guimarães Rosa.
Quoting an excerpt from 'Grande Sertão Veredas': 'I didn't really like sparkles, what I saw, I saw in the world myself. I had a bag, which wasn't really a travel bag, nor a briefcase bag, but rather a back bag, my vagrant suitcase.' In this passage, Riobaldo skillfully describes his suitcase as something flexible, transitory, an artifact of his back, simultaneously half full and half empty. With this ambiguity, throughout the narrative, he takes us through territories that are not limited to mere physical geographic movements through the backlands, but also explore spaces full of uncertainties and strangeness, representing an exploration of the limits and internal contradictions of his personality.
This brief excerpt, which brings us the 'vagrant suitcase', inspires us and raises several questions, such as: what do we genuinely want to take and share with others? What reflections do we intend to instigate to promote a more critical look at society with our work?
With the aim of stimulating new perspectives and dialogues, we hope that this theme will function as a narrative trigger, allowing each of us to create unique stories and aesthetic possibilities, giving them singular poetic expressiveness.
Here is an invitation to explore new territories, whether geographical or symbolic, and that MALA, accompanied by books, may not only transform strangeness into dialogues, but also convert uncertainties into discoveries, awakening new perspectives and narratives in our artistic journey.
bottom of page