Cassio Markowski
Artist, Winner of The 2023 Sovereign Portuguese Art Prize
I work mainly with across drawing and painting, besides exploring video and installation as means of expansion of my practice. From a documentation process on different sociocultural aspects of Afro-Brazilian history and the African diaspora, I go in search of archives, image banks and flea markets, where I gather old botany manuals, family photographs and magazine images to build and present a particular and a magic visual universe. In this particular world, nature emerges as a metaphor for harmony, healing and transformation. This imaginary universe, simultaneously autobiographical, fictional, political and poetic, merges my personal memories, full of symbolism and religious syncretism with collective experiences and traumas. Through multi-layered , which simultaneously evoke fauna and flora, historical realities, collective aspirations and inner visions, sparks a important perception on the human relationship with nature and the living world at large.