In the beginning, the intimate sphere. And then a community of circles before the eyes. So much roundness formed a thread of beads, and the essay proceeded in lines where each photograph called upon met the choice of meaning to make meaning exist. By displacing the individuality of the photographs, giving them to the opening, a story of reciprocal animation occurred, where the breath of one extends into another.
The circles desire to release these bubbles skyward. The river waters the flower beds and wants to fill the chasm of the father’s scar. Dust and light, in some hands, can make honey. The tree is a tree in the air. The staircase elevates the child. The things are alive and dreaming us. This essay seeks to imagine its dreams, to venture an invention.
"Where does the tree end and the rest of the world begin?" embarks on a journey through everyday life, through intimacy with things, inviting contemplation of the extraordinary found in the commonplace, using imagination as a pathway to universes created when one photograph joins another, and another, and another. Structured in polyptychs always in sets of four, alluding to the lyricism of sonnet stanzas, where the narrative and its rhythm unfold within a poetic form of meter. Structured in polyptychs always in sets of four, alluding to the lyricism of sonnet stanzas, where the narrative and its rhythm unfold within a poetic form of meter.
The series comprises 32 polyptychs and was developed between the years 2022 and 2023, supported by analog photography using films in 135 and 120 formats.
Daniela Balestrin biography
Daniela Balestrin was born in Brazil in 1984. Since 2020, she has been developing her work as a multidisciplinary artist, using analog and historical techniques in image creation, as well as writing. In her works, she seeks to approach the events that intertwine with her routine, creating narratives that involve the movements of life and imagination, crossing memory and fiction, image and word. She was selected for the Nova Fotografia 2024 award by the Museum of Image and Sound of the State of São Paulo (Brazil) and is also on the shortlist for the 2024 Sony World Photography Awards in the Professional Creative category. In 2023, she received the Non-Professional Analog Photographer of the Year award from the IPA - International Photography Awards and was a finalist in the Discovery of the Year category at the Lucie Awards.
Awards & Prizes:
2024
Shortlist int the Professional Creative Category, Sony World Photography Awards.
New Photography Award from the Museum of Image and Sound of São Paulo/Brazil.
2023
Finalist named for Discovery of the Year of The Lucie Awards.
Analog/Film Photographer of the Year Non-Professional, IPA - Internacional Photography Awards.
First Place, Analog/Film, Other, Non-Professional, IPA - Internacional Photography Awards.
Gold Winner, Portfolio-Personal, TIFA - Tokyo Internacional Foto Awards.
Honorable Mention, Daily Life category, ND - Neutral Density Photografy Awards.
Honorable Mention, Photo Essay/Story Category, ND - Neutral Density Photografy Awards.
Honorable Mention, Special Analog/Film Category, ND - Neutral Density Photografy Awards.
Portfolio Show, at the 12th Tiradentes Photography Festival/Brazil.
Group Exhibitions:
2024
Sony World Photography Awards 2024 Exhibition at Somerset House, London/UK.
13th Tiradentes/Brazil Photography Festival, "Eztetyka da Terra", curated by João Castilho and Pedro David.
2023
IPA 2023 Annual Best of Show Exhibition, curated by Susan Barak.
The Hamburg Portfolio Review Public Space Exhibition, curated by Nina Röder.
Lampejos na Escuridão [Glimmers in the Darkness], at the 12th Tiradentes Photography Festival/Brazil, curated by Anna Karina Bartolomeu, Gabriela Sa, and Madu Dorella.
Portfolio Reviews:
2023
Portfolio Review, 19th Hamburg Portfolio Review, Hamburg/Germany.
Portfolio Review, 15th FestFoto, Porto Alegre/Brazil.
Portfolio Rewiew, 3rd Photothings Festival, São Paulo/Brazil.
Presentations:
2023
The light bit the boat: error as mystery and narrative, with Paulo Marcos M. Lima [Ateliê Oriente - RJ], at the Festival of Analog Art SP/Brazil.