Still from Q&A with curator Mirjam Kooiman and Sofia Borges

Q&A with Sofia Borges - The Fossil, the Eye and the Fire

White Charcoal, 2016

Sofia Borges

The Foam Talent programme and the annual Talent issue of Foam Magazine are supported by The Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation and the VandenEnde Foundation.

Foam is supported by the VriendenLoterij, Foam Members, De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, the VandenEnde Foundation and the City of Amsterdam.

In 2021 Foam receives additional support from the Mondriaan Fund and Kickstart Cultuurfonds

On 8 September, Foam invites artist Sofia Borges to premiere her new film The Fossil, the Eye and the Fire. The livestream will feature the screening of the film, followed by a Q&amp;A with the artist.

watch the trailer and Q&A with Sofia Borges

<div class="sidebar__content">SCREENING PREMIÈRE 
8 September at 18.30 hrs CET Film premiere, followed by a Q&amp;A with Sofia Borges and Foam curator Mirjam Kooiman.
&nbsp;
8 - 15 September 2021 Film is available to watch on-demand.</div>

Sofia Borges: Film premiere of The Fossil, the Eye and the Fire

Black Chalk and White Charcoal or the Myth of the Absent Matter is an exhibition of the monumental and mysterious work of Brazilian artist Sofia Borges (b. Ribeir&atilde;o Preto, 1984). 

In her own intuitive manner, Borges photographs paintings, drawings, sculptures, maps, fossils, stuffed animals and dioramas. All of these are models of reality that we use to get a grip on the world around us and to give it meaning.
<iframe width="595" height="490" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/lYcH4ogvK94"></iframe>
Borges mainly photographs details. She carefully selects the angles from which she takes her photographs. The objects portrayed are freed from their specific meaning; they stand by themselves. As a result the photographs are not documentary records, but part of a poetic, surreal and somewhat gloomy whole. Myths and fabulous creatures play a major part in her work, as well as philosophical questions about representation, mimicry and imitation.
Photography, as a medium, is by definition bound up with reality. But even a photograph can let go of reality, just like a painting or sculpture. Borges is led by her interest in capturing objects by photographing them, and photography&rsquo;s claim to truth. The artist investigates what representation is and what a photograph can be. For example, she photographs objects along with their mirror image, and duplicates existing photos by photographing them again, creating new work that builds on work that already exists.&nbsp;
Black Chalk and White Charcoal or the Myth of the Absent Matter invites us to contemplate how close we can come to history, to what is portrayed in a photograph, and therefore to the reality that came before the photograph. Borges tries to capture time and the connection between past and present by means of photography, and in doing so she poses the question of just what reality is.
ABOUT SOFIA BORGES Sofia Borges studied Visual Arts at the Universidade de S&atilde;o Paulo. Her book&nbsp;The Swamp, published last spring, she won the MACK First Book Award. In it, she compares the investigation from which her work flows to wandering through deep marshland. She has had various solo exhibitions.
This exhibition is made possible with support of the Gieskes-Strijbis Fund, the Van Bijlevelt Foundation and Kleurgamma.
Foam is supported by the BankGiro Loterij, De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, Delta Lloyd, the City of &nbsp;Amsterdam, Olympus and the VandenEnde Foundation

Foam 3h: Sem Langendijk - Haven, 2023

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 in 2016. Using burned inkjet print as the medium, the artwork is displayed at 150 x 220 cm.

visible in

Borges experimented with the destructive power of fire in relation to imagery. She burned the photographic surface of a large-format print, a way of exploring what happens to the meaning of an image when it is burned. Does the piece lose its signification by being damaged or does it acquire a different sense?

Borges portrays objects and artefacts to free them from their specific meaning, to let them stand by themselves. She strives to show us that even photography, a medium bound up with reality by definition, can let go of reality, as happens in a painting or sculpture. In her work, she investigates what representation is, and what a photograph can be. Myths, fabulous creatures and philosophical questions about representation, mimicry and imitation play a major part in her work.

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