There are maggots in this guava

There are maggots in this guava

An RMIT Honours student will showcase her photobook at the NGV for Melbourne Design Week.

Cecilia Sordi Campos’ work, Tem Bigato Nessa Goiaba, is an exploration of her migration to Australia from Brazil and her separation from her partner of ten years.

The photobook will be displayed at the Melbourne Art Book Fair at the NGV’s Showcase Stand from 10:00 am – 12:00 pm this Friday 18 March.

The title of her work, which is Portuguese for There are maggots in this guava, is the cherry on top of her journey from a Certificate IV to Honours at RMIT.

“I went into the Certificate IV in Photography in 2016 with no knowledge, into this world I didn’t even know existed,” Cecilia said.

“I moved into a Diploma of Photography after that, then a Bachelor and finally into Honours where I produced this work.”

The title represents both a childhood memory and a metaphor for her autobiographical work.

As a child, Cecilia would steal Guava’s from her neighbour’s tree in Brazil and marvel at the maggots inside rather than the fruit itself.

“It was just so visceral and real, I can almost smell the guava remembering it,” she said.

“And throughout this whole process, my separation and migration, it felt like I was cracking myself open and coming back into the world with all these layers.”

Cecilia’s work has won various awards and featured in multiple publications, but having her work showcased at the NGV is “the cherry on top of everything.”

“When I made the work, it was never my intention that anything would come as a result. To me what was important was the making of the work itself,” she said.

“I made an application as a stall holder, but I didn’t expect anything from it so when they contacted me and said they were doing this new showcase stand, it just felt surreal.”

An exhibition is a lovely place to show work, but there’s still this hierarchy where the work is here, and the viewer is there with this invisible barrier in between.”

To me the most exciting thing is having someone interact with the work at the showcase stand, to hold conversations with people while they’re interacting with the work.

It’s great if they buy a book but I’m really excited even just to have these conversations with people, with no assumptions or expectations – it’s just people coming through and talking to you.”

 

Find details about Cecilia’s showcase stand at the Melbourne Art Book Fair here.

Check out her website and other work here.

 

Story: Thomas Odell

15 March 2022

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15 March 2022

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