Fantasmas e Desejos, 2014
Impressão a jato de tinta em papel algodão | Inkjet print on cotton paper
40 x 60 cm, 117 x 78 cm
Exhibited in Pisa, Studio Gennai Gallery, 2015
Publicado | Published Quite Something, Magazin Issue 02, “the wild and the tame”, 2018
Fecho olho, vejo
vejo no escuro onde não tem luz,
vejo os desejos,
uma viagem nos nossos devaneios
mais pessoais.
Text | Emily Barsi (engl. Nicola Powell)
In the photografic series “Fantasmas e Desejos”, the artist creates scenic sets where her experience as an interior photographer + stylist merge with her background as a product designer. Her interest in fabric, textures and the combination of colours and fantasy adds another layer to the works.
Through coloured light which is modulated by tissue and filters, Sophia Eham creates a specific scenographic set, with her body at its center. A dialogue between various chromatic tones, light and shadows is formed, which simultaneously sculpts and hides the traces of the body.
In “Fantasma e Desejos” Sophia Eham opens her most intimate sphere leading the viewer through a journey into the deepest light and shades of her soul. Everything tells of her experience in a foreign country: Brazil. A cultural context where a strong sexual tension can be felt everywhere and on every level: unrealised love, wishes and desires, fears and passion, all shaped her physical and spiritual transition from young girl to woman.
Objects such as exotic flowers, coloured fabrics, and shells that Sophia collected in the streets of her neighbourhood in Rio de Janeiro become much more than simple decorative objects; every single one is infused with a particular power, and carries a symbolic meaning. These objects, just like in traditional shamanic rituals of south American cultures, represent true elixir for the body and soul: things that instill peace and enrich the spirit while at the same time allowing the personality to grow.
An untouchable journey through the deepest aspects of one person’s soul; through „ghosts and desires“.