Anabela Pinto Blue Shower from the series PRECIOUS THINGS

Baudrillard once wrote how the system of objects is the embodiment of satisfaction and disillusion; how we find in objects an ambition to act as replacements for human relationships. Seemingly appearing to solve a mere practical problem, they subconsciously aim to resolve a social or psychological conflict. “Precious Things” is an observation of the cult of technology as an extension of the human psyche, where consumer objects appear to channel, reflect and feed on the emotions of its users. The blue light emanating from the screen permeates the scenes and reiterates this presence, harbouring the delights of artificiality, the promise of a more in-tune experience. Steeped in nostalgia, home electronics become the main subjects in open-ended narratives that incite the imagination of the viewer, while speaking of an ever- evolving and ambiguous relationship, the human closeness to technological objects of desire, our precious things.

About

Anabela Pinto is a Portuguese artist and photographer living in London. She holds an MA in photography from the Royal College of Art. Her practice reflects an interest in the relationship between people and technologies, consumer culture and desire, and its subsequent effect on the aesthetics of our daily living surroundings. Through the use of colour and light, props and objects of interest, her current work plays with the potential of mise-en-scène and explores the narrative qualities and possibilities of the photographic image. The constructed scenes hover between the visual tropes of the cinematic language and those concerning commercial photographic sensibilities.