The overt passage between image and object in the photographic project of Dinis Santos (S. João da Madeira - 1983), which we perceive a priori, comprises a shift away from what has been the development of his artistic practice within photography.
Among the flaming matter of the image and the dilettante groove of the object, between dimension and plane, form and non-form, from matter to body, the image that Dinis Santos presents in the MIRA Space for the CI.CLO Biennial of Photography, Porto is defined by a spectral body, a reflective and diffuser device, reverse image and mirror image. It is the partial culmination of a broader thought process than the one summarised here. The luminous body, presented in triplicate sequence, oscillates between homogenisation and diffusion, carrying the power of several places and times combined also with the material used, tin.
Amongst the malleability, solidity and brilliance of the metal, the surface overworks to reflect the adaptation and transition of multiple dialogues emerging from the taint of a nefarious social, human, and ecological state in the present. From the corruptible extractive culture and the evolutionary sub-intention of the planet, tin thus becomes a matter of antagonisms perpetuated between its false luminescence and dungeon blackness.
Text by João Terras