Sofia Borges — Les artifices — White Project Gallery — Exhibition — Slash Paris

Past: November 9 → December 21, 2013

“So at heart, these objects end up being a kind of study on the inherent meaning of an object. And how photography subverts or erases or displaces this meaning. And despite the recurring nature of this strategy — of going to museums, zoos, study centres — in my research these days, all of it is a result of my interest in the language itself ­ and not in themes or subjects. Because I am more interested on photography ability to corrupt, or duplicate, or forbid the meaning of something than in anything else. So it is not about animals, or biology, or dioramas, or portraits, or landscapes, or museums but it is about language and, more specifically, photography.

And whenever I talk about photography, in a way I feel I am thinking about the difference between a ghost and a sheet. Because a photograph has this illusory side to it , it makes us believe we are seeing a thing when in actual fact we are only seeing its referent, which is a kind of shroud, or simulacrum, or representation. But besides its referent, the photograph is also materic, it has size and surface, it is an image in itself.

Because no matter how illusory, translucent and inexplicable a ghost may be, it still carries the burden of being a sheet that floats without explanation or logic. And in my opinion, what determines whether we are seeing a sheet or a ghost is, precisely, language."