Family Portrait / Retrato de familia

Houses are portraits of the people who inhabit them. When they are destroyed—or transformed—the subject, too, is reconfigured. Space ceases to be merely physical, measurable, or architectural—a place inhabited solely by the body—and instead gives way to imagination, memory, and identity. Architecture intertwines with the ontological experiences of each individual being, giving rise to various emotional states. This work features a photograph—printed upon a set of hydraulic tiles—that my family cherishes with great affection, as it is the only image capturing the façade of the colonial house where we lived for a significant portion of our lives. Within the image—which lacks sharp focus—one can discern spectral figures or indistinct forms, referencing the translucent, imperfect nature of memories. The arabesques and patterns take center stage, creating a interplay of transparencies that elevates the "tile" as an object, transforming it into a symbol of the familiar, of home, and of the intimate; it sheds its utilitarian function to be reconstructed as a torn photograph—a portrait of memory.