Marcellus Cruz

MARCELLUS CRUZ 

A few words about this series?

This series of photos was recently shooted in a camp with friends in the countryside of Southern Brazil. Although I live in the midst of a more rural and quiet area, most of my friends live in the city under a stressful and tiring routine, then I think this trip had a purpose of seeking some peace and freedom. That’s exactly what I tried to convey through my aesthetics. My view. The photos were taken with a Polaroid 365CL (using Impossible Project film) and a Nikon F3 with a film that I had soaked into something that I do not remember. Perhaps vodka. Or ethyl alcohol. Or both.

Why would you choose a rare process in photography?

I choose to make use of a rare process in the photography for a sentimental issue. Lately I’ve harping on about the liquidity of the society. People absorb less and less what is offered. Everything is very fast. Instant. I try to go totally against it. I was seeking a bigger connection with my work than I started shooting only with analog cameras a few years ago. I think the all aesthetic result is just a consequence of the involvement and dedication I have. For immerse into something I really like.

The term photography comes from ancient greek “writing with light”. Would you say you write with light?

Thinking that light is essential for photography, yes. However, I believe that there we move to a much deeper question: why each one photograph. As I have a changeable personality, I can say I didn’t photograph only with light, but also with darkness, with heart, with soul… everything is very changeable when it has the Gemini soul.

What inspires you?

I can say absolutely everything? Because I think that absolutely anything can inspire me. From nature to a subject I’m studying. A movie or a cartoon - I really like to watch something calm before bed, it makes me give preference to any cartoon (laughs). Books have an indescribable power of inspiration. Loneliness also inspires. As well as the work of other artists. Of course sometimes we go through periods where the opposite happens and nothing inspires us, but in the vast majority of the time I try to take inspiration from anything that comes before my eyes.

Do you collect anything special? Why?

I think the most special thing I collect is knowledge. I say this because I really don’t have the habit of collecting material things. The nearest that are sentences of books and movies that catch my eye and I jot down in a notebook. On the other hand, I’m always looking for knowledge. I am very curious towards life.

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