DENISE GADELHA

The framing of the photographs that were presented at the Xico Stockinger gallery, in Porto Alegre, shows part of the exhibition support and part of the windows in the background. The images tend to reinforce the viewer's attention both to the interior of the gallery and to its exterior, thus stimulating the recognition of details in the room while encouraging the observation of the external landscape. Photography gives value to the photographed object, after all, what is photographically documented is only so because it was considered important by someone. The exhibition of the photographic record of the environment itself intensifies and brings into focus the gallery's structural details, such as, for example, the electric lighting system, the existing piping along the ceiling or the adhesive filters that were placed in part of the window in an attempt to reduce the incidence of sunlight. Details that, in this type of space operating under the precepts of the “white cube”, should supposedly be abstracted from our perception. On the other hand, the presence of the window in the photographic image and its proximity to the real window invite the viewer to recognize and admire the landscape. The Xico Stockinger Gallery provides a privileged view of the Guaíba River, and, through comparison with the photographic record, a port activity that is unknown to most of the inhabitants of this city can be revealed. The careful recognition of the image compared to the real landscape can cause amazement in some visitors who did not expect to find a harbor still active, where, every day, something on a monumental scale (cranes and ships) appears in different positions than what is recorded in the photographs.