California-Alentejo
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Projection of California-Alentejo on the courtyard wall of the Convent of Carmo, University of Évora; Évora, Portugal
Projection of California-Alentejo on the courtyard wall of the Convent of Carmo, University of Évora; Évora, Portugal
The project California - Alentejo was originally created within the context of the Festival Escrita na Paisagem 2007 (Written in the Landscape), a festival of performance art in Alentejo, Portugal, and was inspired by a road trip that Alyssa took with Inês Barreiros in 2004 through the Alentejo landscape.
As curator of "Andamentos" (a section of the festival dedicated to young artists/performances), Inês Barreiros included and helped produce California - Alentejo. Please see an excerpt from her curatorial essay in regard to this project below, in both Portuguese and English:
"Também de subjectividades e afectos nos fala o projecto de Alyssa Casey. Com uma licenciatura mista em Belas-Artes, Biologia e Geografia, na Universidade de Berkeley, gosta de encontrar no seu trabalho ligações conceptuais entre fontes não relacionadas, mas semelhantes entre si, combinando frequentemente formas arquétipas com registos de memórias. Através deste processo como força criativa chave, o trabalho de Alyssa identifica-se com os preceitos da poesia visual, ao mesmo tempo que mantém uma ênfase nas prioridades formais do desenho. O projecto que concebemos para o Festival vai nesta esteira e contextualiza-se a partir de uma viagem pelo Alentejo, no Verão de 2004. Inês Barreiros, convencida de que levava Alyssa Casey por uma paisagem única, confronta-se com o seguinte comentário: “Evoca-me fortemente a Califórnia”. Será que o Alentejo, em vez de um ‘deserto’, poderá ser uma (californiana) ‘terra prometida’?
Desta forma, "Califórnia-Alentejo" constitui-se como um exame às semelhanças e/ou discrepâncias emotivas e físicas entre as paisagens do Alentejo, lugar do Festival, e as da costa central da Califórnia, lugar de origem de Alyssa, através das memórias íntimas da sua história familiar (de emigrantes na Califórnia). Seguindo o tema do Festival, “jogo, viagem e hospitalidade”, o projecto transforma as duas paisagens em “quadros de jogo”, através dos quais Alyssa já viajou na Califórnia e viajará em Portugal, documentando a sua passagem por meio de desenhos e registos escritos de encontros com pessoas e memórias locais e familiares. Na esteira da melhor tradição “paisagista” americana, em artistas como Hans Hofmann (sobretudo os seus trabalhos em papel) e, mais recentemente, Wolf Khan (seu discípulo), cujas obras estão entre as mais populares da imagética americana, os desenhos-registo de Alyssa são actos de preservação da memória, que se constituem como testemunhos despretensiosos e que darão origem a dois livros de edição única."
- Inês Barreiros (excerpt from the text, Andamentos, a description of her curatorial contribution to Escrita na Paisagem 2007)
"Alyssa Casey's project also speaks to us in regard to subjectivity and affect. With a degree in Fine Art, Biology and Geography from the University of California at Berkeley, through her work Alyssa likes to find conceptual links between unrelated but analogous sources, frequently combining traces of memory with archetypal forms. Through this creative approach, the work of Alyssa identifies with the conceptual framework of visual poetry, while at the same time, maintains an emphasis on the formal priorities of drawing. The project that we conceived for the Festival is cut from this same cloth and was born by a road trip through Alentejo in the summer of 2004. Inês Barreiros, convinced that she had brought Alyssa to a truly singular landscape, was confronted by the following comment: "This really reminds me of California." Could it be that Alentejo, in place of a desert, could be a (californian) "promised land"?In this way, "Califórnia-Alentejo" constitutes an examination of the emotive and physical similarities and/or differences between the landscapes of Alentejo, location of the festival, and the central coast of Califórnia, the home of Alyssa, through the lens of the intimate memories of her familial history (immigrants to Califórnia). Following the theme of the Festival, "games, travel, and hospitality", the project transforms the two landscapes into "game boards", through which Alyssa already traveled in Califórnia and will travel in Portugal, documenting her trip through drawings and written registers of real-time encounters with people as well as local and familial memories. Following the best tradition of American landscape painting, with artists such as Hans Hofman (especially his work on paper) and, more recently, Wolf Khan (Hofman's student), whose works are amongst the most popular of American imagery, the drawings-registers of Alyssa are an act of memory preservation that constitute modest testimonies recorded in two unique books."- Inês Barreiros (excerpt from the text, Andamentos, a description of her curatorial contribution to Escrita na Paisagem 2007)
California
Alentejo
The artist would like to acknowledge Inês for her invaluable creative and logistical support. The project would not have been possible without the generosity and help of she and her entire family, Leonilde, José, and Ana Barreiros.
Alyssa would also like to thank Azul Ceballos, Valter Ventura and José Alberto Ferreira for their indispensable help in making this project a reality.
A special photo credit and thankful hug to my father, John Casey, for the image of the oak tree in California.
California – Alentejo was created with a grant from the US Embassy of Portugal, Department of Cultural Affairs.
