WHITE LINE SHOTS

 

 

Text by Catarina Souto

 

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In water territory, Baudelaire's phrase is sharpened and insists on resounding in our eyes as we traverse Gustavo Tavares's photographs, during an unrepeatable trip to the Land of Ice [Iceland | Iceland] in 2014: "In nature there are no lines or colors."

In water territory, the understanding and decal of what you observe is particularly complex. Water manifests itself in different forms: it is simultaneously ice, snow and liquid, violence, storm and lull. The color fades, becomes even. The horizon line is dull, almost non-existent. The human presence, marked only by
fascinating electric poles or roads, still does not help the exercise of scale and guidance.

The character and strength of these photographs are precisely in the demonstration of this evidence: that nature is extraordinarily more complex and fascinating than the cartography of our human gaze: that of color, that of straight or curved lines, that of interpretation.