Francisco Janes

The project is the result of a hike along the Paiva river from Nodar to its source in Carapito, Moimenta da Beira. Sounds, photos and video were recorded in Nodar and during the walk and were finally presented as a mixed-media installation. The elements that I gathered reflect a subjective vision of the relationship between the body and the landscape and of the contingencies and memories of a trip made against the flow, towards the “interior” of a river.

In the beginning I related a word to the memory I had of the village, which was the word “interior”. The geographic notion of how the village is surrounded by mountains but also its remote ness from the coast. I mainly related this to the idea so flight, interiority and solitude. At the same time, I liked the idea of hiking, of suffering a long with the route.

I was curious by the existing connection between people and their territory, in tension with their memory and how, since there is no longer a need to go for long walks,landscape is slowly closing it self into the places where people live and work. A path can only exist as long as there is a traveler.

In Nodar we feel a very strong presence of the river, although we don’t know where it comes from.My walk began with the idea that the river establishes a line, with its movement pointing towards the interior. Its source was my goal.And I started to think how I could make this visible. I couldn’t work with many resources during the walk because I had to focus on progressing. So I would work in the moments of pause. I had the maps, with the region well charted, and I would take note of my location at every stop, also taking a picture, and making a video of the river source at the end. On the other hand, I was attracted by the sounds of this region and wanted todo some phonography.

I thought of showing some of the materials I collected, but also some that I took with me: the map, which would be placed on the floor, showing the places where I was,the mattress I used to sleep on would be useful to kneel down to look at the map, and every other element that had a function on the walk. I wanted a secluded room for the video projections of what I filmed and also the photographs of the moments where I paused. My idea was to create a room similar to a shelter or a stopping place.

I encountered many things… I found a part of my country that I didn’t know about. It was a new country. I also experienced time differently from what I would have if I had stayed at the artist residency, without any breaks and without comfort.Walking for some time on these hills and valleys we learn that there’s a religious sense perhaps more authentic among this people. The persistence of hermitages,stopping places, shelters, because there’s still night, the dangers of the land. There were even those who thought I was doing this to fulfill a religious promise-in fact I think this burden exists in the art-making process, when I propose myself to accomplish a project.

(1981, Lisbon) Studied literature at Lisbon University. Finished the Advanced Photography Bachelor program at Ar.Co School in Lisbon.

In his projects he works with photography, video, sound (in particular the areas of field recording and concrete music), objects and mixed-media installations. The central focus of his work is perception and the phenomenological processes of conscious ness, and the particular notions of boundary and scission.

Francisco Janes won the Ernesto de Sousa Scholarship for 2008, granted by Phil Niblock’s Experimental Intermedia Foundation and the Luso-American Foundation.