Cães Marinheiros (Sailor Dogs) was filmed in the small Amazonian towns of Velho Airão and Igapó-Açu. It juxtaposes the homonymous tale by Portuguese poet Herberto Hélder with dismantled village landscapes. At the confluence of the Negro and Jaú rivers lie the ruins of Airão, founded by Portuguese missionaries in 1694. Once a hub for rubber production, the city collapsed after the boom-and-bust of the Rubber Cycle. Legend has it the population was “devoured by ants.” Abandoned, it became Velho Airão, now a sparsely inhabited site visited only by a few curious tourists. In March 2020, Wagner filmed there, weaving Hélder’s text with these eroded geographies. Through perspectivist inversion, textual and visual images merge and fracture within a forest hollowed out by human absence.
Janaína Wagner, Cães Marinheiros (Sailor Dogs), 2020, 7'00''
Janaina Wagner (1989) develops her artistic research through films, drawings, and installations. Her work presents a critical understanding of the ways in which humans impose systems of order and control upon their surroundings. Among her main exhibitions are the solo shows SALA DE VÍDEO MASP – Museu de Arte de São Paulo (BR) and Baleia Fantasma – Pivô Arte e Pesquisa (BR); and group exhibitions such as the 22ª Bienal Videobrasil (BR), Ensaio de Tração – Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo (BR); Garganta – CIAJG - Centro Internacional de Artes José de Guimarães (PT); and Aliens are temporary – Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien (DE). Currently a PhD candidate at Le Fresnoy – Studio National des Arts Contemporains (FR), Janaina has taken part in several artist residencies, including Doc Station (BE), Gasworks (UK), VISIO – European Program on Artists' Moving Images (IT), FID Campus (FR), and Bolsa Pampulha (BR). Her work is included in major collections such as KADIST (FR), Instituto Inhotim (BR), Galeria Municipal do Porto (PT), and CMN – Coleção Moraes Barbosa (BR). Janaina has also participated in several film festivals, including Berlinale (DE) and Mostra de Cinema de Tiradentes (BR). She is currently developing her first feature-length film, the experimental documentary A Mala da Noite. Janaina lives and works in São Paulo.