"… Uma história que eu nunca esqueci…" /
"… A story I never forgot…", 2013/2015
Video installation,, 13’
Born in 1963, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where she lives and works.
"… Uma história que eu nunca esqueci…" /
"… A story I never forgot…" 2013/2015
… A story I never forgot… is a video installation in which the video, produced in an “artisanal” manner, doesn’t pretend to achieve technical excellence, but rather reorders and organizes the fragmented memory of the Armenian Genocide (c. 1915 to 1920) based on the stories and narratives heard since her childhood. To forget it would mean forgetting one’s own being.
A handkerchief embroidered by the artist's grandmother whilst a refugee in Thessaloniki runs through the narrative. Transformed in each episode, the object retraces her origins from Konya, her life in Greece, to the arrival in Rio de Janeiro and her new life.
Rosana Palazyan graduated with a degree in Architecture and Urbanism from the Universidade Gama Filho in 1986 and attended art courses at the Escola de Artes Visuais do Parque Lage between 1988 and 1992, both in Rio de Janeiro. Her work has been constituted as a process of approximation and dialogue, particularly with those who are in situations of exclusion and are invited to participate in a relationship grounded in listening. The exchanges are transformed into works that delicately amplify the voice of these people in attempt to sensitize the relationship of the public to these issues. In 27 years of production, Palazyan has worked in a variety of mediums (drawing, embroidery, installation, video, performance and public art projects) to promote experiences about art, life and society.
A small selection of recent exhibits include: Linguagens do corpo carioca [a vertigem do Rio], Museu de Arte do Rio, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2016); 56th International Venice Art Biennale (2015); The 4th Thessaloniki Biennale, Greece (2013); The Street, MHKA, Antwerp, Belgium (2011); solo at Casa França Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, (2010); Pretty Tough: Contemporary Storytelling, The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, CT, USA (2009); Um Atlas de acontecimentos, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal (2007); 26th Sao Paulo International Biennial, Brazil (2004).
ROSANA PALAZYAN
