Lugares que fui, 2012
HD Video, colour, sound, 6 min
Emmanuel’s Car, 2012
Audio, 29 mins
Lugares qui fui is a video piece fused with the artist’s sound piece Movement in Empty Streets, which is paired with the audio recording Emmanuel’s Car—together they comprise a complete work. The narrated audio of Emmanuel’s Car, central to the collective piece, is a story of life, of hope, of cars and driving, of a journey made. The narrator, who as a boy lived on the streets of Lima, tells his story; as taxi driver he becomes guide to the city of his former experience. His off-screen presence is felt throughout the video Lugares que fui, which loosely translated means ‘everywhere I’ve ever been’. The narrative weaves themes of redemption, of vibrancy emerging from rubbish—from nothing; the images reference the story, frequently shot from a child’s sight line. The short video Lugares que fui is a triptych of colour, woven from lo-fi footage made by the artist in and around Lima, Peru. The film collects scenes snatched from the mundane, from movement, and from a journey. Lugares que fui is a quilt of light, colour, and traffic—of the everyday, interwoven with music—the artist’s composition Movement in Empty Streets which re-uses sampled sounds of the city. The film builds a transient beauty from wasted video and forgotten moments, echoing the narrative, and evoking the theme of redemption from the artist’s recent series Gold junk.
The video and accompanying audio piece was premiered in April 2012 at the first Bienal de fotografía, Lima, Peru.