Leticia Ramos
Sto. Antonio Do Patrulha, Brazil, 1976
Universal history of earthquakes, 2017 , 2017
10 stroboscopic photography, 1 photocollage, 1 silver print reproduction and 1 sculpture (eletronic device, motors, arduino, metallic structure, plywood, electric plug and cable)
Installation. Dimensions variable
Acquired 2018

Leticia Ramos explores the limits of the production and exegesis of analogue images through photographic and filmic works, which she also develops into installations, objects, publications and performances. Her aesthetic research extends to the invention of new photographic apparatuses —such as cameras, machines, models and sets— to create new kinds of images.

The narrative of Historia Universal de los terremotos is based on the 1775 earthquake and subsequent fire that destroyed the city of Lisbon. It unfolds as a collection of works carried out in various media and placed in a somewhat disorderly fashion in the exhibition space – some works lie on the floor, as if they had fallen from the wall. She uses stroboscopic photography on microfilm to capture the movement – and fall – of objects, and thus render the effect of an earthquake. A photograph she took of a historical document – an engraving of the inside of Lisbon’s opera house before it was destroyed – contextualizes the project. A studio-made oscilloscope, once used as a prop for some of her photographic experiments, also evokes the “gaiola pombalina,” an anti-seismic construction technique employed to rebuild the city in the wake of the 1775 catastrophe.