Raquel Gandra was born in Rio de Janeiro, in 1986, the year the Halley Comet was last seen.
Her work as a visual artist and documental photographer moves through three main themes: Memory (it's narratives, vacancies, and openings); Identity (as a place of ambiguity and collectiveness), and the relationship between the Human Body and Nature/Landscape.
Raquel graduated in Audiovisual (2010) from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, followed by a Master in Fine Arts (2016) - Interdisciplinary Poetics, also at UFRJ, Brazil. She recently completed a one-year Master in Artistic and Documentary Photography (2019) at IPCI, Porto, Portugal.
I seek to create images that would, otherwise, not be seen. Porous and wavering images, that take place between materiality and its transposition, and don’t aim to translate the world, but dare to imagine it.
The exploration of various analog techniques as a frequent approach comes from the desire to include chance as an inherent part of the process, understanding the image-making device as a place of unveiling and unfolding, conducive to questioning the way we see and perceive reality itself.
I believe every form of knowledge permeates affection. This is also how I understand my artistic practice.