How do ancient fragments find new expression in the archaeological fiction of the future? By blending sculpture and photography, Varela creates an experimental form that defies easy categorisation. She approaches ancient remains not just as relics of the past but as objects that can be reinterpreted and reimagined through a speculative philosophical lens. Varela’s process involves applying photographic prints to surfaces such as plaster, glass, marble, or ceramics. By doing so, she detaches familiar images embedded in our collective memory from their original context, stripping them of their historical era and meaning and bringing them into the present day.

After studying law in Paris and cinema in New York, Dune Varela delved into analogue photography, intrigued by its dual nature as both a robust, foundational layer and a delicate, mutable material. In her latest series, she merges sculptural work with photography, reflecting on the fragile surface of photographic prints.

The détruire, dit-elle and figures series, exhibited in various sections of the Church of St. Antuan, serve as metaphors for long-lost relics, evoking a sense of remembrance. The grains in the black-and-white photographs seep into the grooves of the marble surface, while the intricate details of the sculptures create fleeting moments of ambiguity between reality and illusion. Varela harnesses this confusion to invent an ancient space that reflects the ongoing cycle of reconstruction and destruction of historical artefacts.

Dune Varela

28 September – 13 October 2024

Church of St. Anthony of Padua