I focus on the ephemeral, the inexpensive, the cheap, the things that are thrown away, undervalued in our lives. I’ve always been fascinated by knickknacks you can buy at dollar stores. I like the surreal aspects of some – who needs a square foot of plastic grass? Others, such as figurines of brides or angels, attract me for their poor quality and weak attempt to celebrate things that are culturally and personally sacred to us.
Toys, such as the dinosaur in one photograph, reminded me of my childhood and happy moments watching the 1970s television show such as “Land of The Lost” about a family trapped in an alternate universe populated with prehistoric reptiles. I became increasingly attracted to these objects. I found that they seemed as temporary as life itself -- and their low cost reminded me of my own dwindling economic resources. The choice for the color white comes from all the meaning that this color brings historically and culturally in its different contexts.
The act of painting them was also an act of transgression. It was as if I was liberating the objects from their given “dollar” status, by creating an alternate universe. In photographing the objects, I felt that the image’s potential was there, and it was up to me to reveal it. It was like starting all over again.
Cibele Vieira was born in Brazil and lives in New York. She graduated from the International Center of Photography and The New School University. Her work is currently held at Pierogi Flat Files and she has exhibited at Soho Photo Gallery and in NYC, at Knew Gallery (Washington DC), Stubinitz Gallery at Adrian College (Adrian, MI), at the Bienal de Fotografia de Sao Paulo and Casa de Cultura Mario Quintana in Brazil, and at the Kiyosato Museum in Japan, where her work is in the collection. She has been featured in Visura Magazine, The Village Voice, Brooklyn Rail and Bushwick Open Studios Blog in NYC, and O Globo and Correio Braziliense in Brazil. Cibele was First Place, Vision Awards, Santa Fe Center for Visual Arts 2000.
