FROM MARCIA TO JAQUE AND BACK – INTERVIEW WITH MARCIA BEATRIZ GRANERO
In 1963 in Wuppertal, Nam June Paik and Wolf Vostell, were beginning to write the history of video art by staging the first art installation involving television sets. From that moment, a new way of seeing and enjoying art was begun.
Video art harnesses technology, images, photography, and sound to create new realities, and that is exactly what Marcia Beatriz Granero offers us with her work.
Who is Marcia Beatriz Granero?
Marcia is a Brazilian visual artist, born in São Paulo in 1982. A graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in São Paulo, she decided immediately after her studies to devote herself to video art, studying and delving into the subject, until she became one of the hottest video art artists in the country.
She is currently completing a great work, that is to interview the artists who are part of Brazilian video art, from the pioneers of the seventies, up to the youngest independent artists, creating in collaboration with the MIS (Museum of Image and Sound) the "VideoArtePapo MIS" a huge archive on video art in Brazil, succeeding with such a project to pass the message that video art is for everyone.
From the beginning, Marcia's intention in her works breaks away from the traditional languages of video art, she, in fact, mixing art with cinema, tries to create a fictitious narrative, which is transformed into a story. This quest leads her to create her own alter ego named Jaque Jolene.
The universality of Jaque Jolene:
Jaque Jolene is a Brazilian, independent woman who lives alone and knows very well what social loneliness means. But her very being alone, not having a voice, and always being out and about turns her into a universal woman who finds a place for herself wherever she is.
One example is the Pining for Pearls project: Marcia and Jaque's first residency abroad, in London in fact, where Marcia and Jaque were able to explore London's climate, traditions, and admire all the Queen's outfits!
In fact, the curatorial note for that project, reads something like this:
"Darling Pearls&Co invited Márcia Beatriz Granero and Jaque Jolene for a residency @Darling's Attic in December (2018) to produce a new body of work as part of their first solo exhibition in the UK. [...] Jaque Jolene was initially reluctant to accept the invitation because of the London climate. After all, her home country is tropical. Márcia convinced her that the attic is warm and very private, a safe and quiet place where the paparazzi would not find her. Márcia also took time to look at and show J.J. the origin of tabloid and royal family news presented by the Brazilian media. She states that J.J. and Di would have been great friends and confidants since they are, in many ways, similar. [...]"
Trabaroa:
Jaque does not stop in London, she also travels through time and space. Growing up in a small town in the country, she decides to explore the big city, and her roots. She thus takes advantage of the landscapes and climate of Portugal to tell her story.
Trabaroa, in fact, is the result of Marcia and Jaque's residency in Portugal, precisely, where it was presented at the 14th Festival Fonlad Internacional de Vídeo Arte e Performance in 2018.
Trip Paulista:
It is in Brazil that most of Marcia and Jaque's stories take place.
Trip Paulista is one of them:
After an eventful night, Jaque decides to have a coffee to wash down his psychotropics, and out of his hesitation about what to do comes the opportunity to go walking some of the city's streets.
The beauty of Marcia and her alter ego Jaque is that they are two completely different, opposite and complementary people, so much so that Marcia told us:
"Lately I don't know anymore if I am Marcia or if I am Jaque, and it is strange but at the same time very curious how people have an attitude with me, closed, almost shy, while when I am dressed as Jaque they have a completely different one, they are more open, curious and ready to tell about themselves..."
Marcia and Jaque complement each other and make art part of everyday life. This is the deep sense of the contemporary, that of searching for the best each time, of developing content and entering into a relationship with one's creativity, so much so that one identifies with it.
Besides...how beautiful are they?
I invite you to visit Marcia's website (www.marciabeatrizgranero.com) where you can find all her video art works and you can enjoy Jaque's stories.
