 |
||
| Fascinated by domestic spaces, not only as storage for personal effects, but more importantly for their psychological meaning to those who occupy them, Rochelle Costi creates detailed portraits of bedrooms in the photographic series Quartos. Costi treats her subject—the bedroom—as a living, complex figure and reveals the intimate details that one’s sleeping area exposes. The artist is interested in exploring the notion of personal space as something that, no matter how small, is always coveted by its owner.
The inhabitants of these rooms are always absent from Costi’s images, leaving viewers to draw their own conclusions about these individuals’ identities based on the varied decor, knickknacks, and artifacts present. The large format chosen by Costi is key to the experience and understanding of the work, for the size of the images allows viewers to position themselves within the space she captures. The range of social classes represented in Costi’s photographs is a reflection of the troubled city of São Paulo, where the contrast of extreme poverty and wealth divides the city. Costi often photographs the crowded slums of São Paulo, where privacy and personal space are scarce. Her photographs reveal the basic human need to establish “a home of one’s own” in even the most unfavorable of conditions.  (For Grades 4-6) Take a close look at this image. Whose room do you think this is? How do the different items in the room help you get a feeling for the type of person who lives here? The inhabitants of Costi’s rooms are always absent. Why do you think Costi chose to photograph this room without the person who lives there? How would the image change if you could see what this person looked like? What does your personal space say about you? |
||
| |
||
  |
||
Rochelle Costi Brazil, born 1961 Quartos – São Paulo (Rooms – São Paulo) Chromogenic print, edition 2 of 3, 1998 Museum purchase with funds from the Betlach Family Foundation 2000.6 © Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego |
||
© 2005 CARE All rights reserved