PARTICIPATION OF JOÃO MIGUEL BARROS,

HALFTONE’S PRESIDENT

Allegory of globalisation

‘It is better to light a candle

than to curse the darkness.’

Chinese proverb

1. Fire is one of the central elements of Chinese culture. And it was fire which inspired the construction of this photographic installation, where the movement and fluidity of the flame in the images serves as an allegory to represent the retreats and advances of globalisation.

Globalisation is an insurmountable creation of modern times, which moves in cycles and which, like the waves of fire, and the heat of its flames, affects everybody.

2. Symbolic representation gives artistic manifestations as much or more meaning than they would have if the theme were expressed in a realist or documentary way.

The four images in this project therefore go beyond what they show; they carry an intentional symbolic meaning. As objects they are apparently similar, because they all depict a wick burning, and a flame which consumes it. But as symbols they are naturally different, because each of these images reveals the sequential movement of the fire which, with a life of its own, retreats and advances, just like globalisation.

3. Seen together, as a whole, the four images essentially show us that the path is not straightforward, not uniform, not easy, but is inevitable, illustrated by the flame staying alight.

The phenomenon of globalisation is irreversible, even when it is felt, in each historical moment, to varying degrees, just like the fire in this project, which begins as a flickering flame of low intensity in the first image (in the top left-hand corner), but which grows in strength by the time it reaches the last image in the group (in the bottom right-hand corner).

In short, fire and globalisation as a unique and polarising parity.

João Miguel Barros, Macau, 2021