Brazilian visual artist Sandra Gonçalves has created a powerful photographic series titled 'Pandemic and Chaos' that examines human isolation and bodily fragility during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally from Rio de Janeiro and now based in Porto Alegre since 2005, Gonçalves serves as a professor and researcher in photography at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul.
Gonçalves' artistic practice centers on questions related to life in its multiple social, cultural, and economic dimensions, as well as the survival of our planet and its diverse species. Her work consistently explores themes of finitude and mortality, establishing her as a thoughtful observer of human existence. She gained recognition in 2000 when she held her first solo exhibition at the Palácio do Catete, featuring photodocumentary work on charcoal production facilities in Rio de Janeiro's urban center.
The 'Pandemic and Chaos' series specifically addresses the theme of human isolation caused by the fragility of the human body and the resulting loss of mobility. Gonçalves observes that such isolation has long been visible in the aged and vulnerable bodies of elderly individuals. However, she notes that this isolation and confinement became a universal experience during the COVID-19 pandemic, when a virus held everyone hostage and paralyzed millions of people worldwide, confining them to their living spaces.
In her artistic interpretation, Gonçalves presents the windows of homes as gateways to the world – a world viewed through what she describes as 'filters of pain.' These conceptual filters are visualized in her images through X-ray photographs of human bodies displayed upside down against landscape backgrounds, revealing the fragile material from which we are constructed. The technique serves as a stark reminder of human vulnerability and mortality.
The artist explains that with COVID-19, people became passive bodies, terrorized by an invisible threat and bound to window frames like prisoners. According to her vision, specters of pain and death lurked in every movement within these confined frames. She suggests that escape from fear and chaos became impossible during the pandemic, with the specter of fear and death becoming a constant presence even in dreams and imaginary journeys, fundamentally altering how people experienced both reality and imagination.
