By Anna Luisa Costa 

 

It's worth reflecting on the unique status that defines a vortex: it is a form that has separated from the flow of the water from which it was once a part, and still is in some way; it is an autonomous and self-contained region subject to its own laws, yet closely linked to the totality in which it is immersed, made of the same material, continually exchanging with the liquid mass that surrounds it.

(AGAMBEN, Giorgio. The Fire and the Tale. São Paulo: Boitempo, 2018, p. 84)

 

The vortex is a phenomenon that arises due to differences in pressure between adjacent regions, generating a circular or spiral pattern. The trajectory of the Rio de Janeiro artist Lyz Parayzo seems to parallel this whirlpool. On one side of the forces, Lyz begins her career as a sculptor directly inspired by the Brazilian Neo-Concrete movement and artists like Lygia Clark and Waldemar Cordeiro. Years later, while pursuing her Master's degree at the École de Beaux-Arts in Paris, another force emerges, and her exposure to the works of the French Grav group (Groupe de Recherche d'Art Visuel) sparks a desire to work with kinetic art.

 

Despite being composed of opposing forces, the vortex's design creates common areas between the lines of its outline, ultimately converging towards a central point where we don't know if it's where it originates or where it's directed. In Lyz Parayzo's work, this central point is the inevitable implication of her subjectivity as a trans woman, inseparable from her art. The portrait of her existence formally manifests in her sculptures through the shapes and materials of her work, imposing itself on anyone who comes into contact with it.

 

Lyz Parayzo is a sculptress who also works in jewelry and audiovisual. "Vortex" features 7 aluminum mobiles. Among the outlines are the artist's traditional serrated surfaces, but also shark fins, thorns, and crowns. These sharp forms not only simulate the possibility of cutting but, due to the choice of material, actually cut. The sense of danger and the need for vigilance is a constant state for trans bodies in a world dominated by cis-heteronormative logic, and it's this environment that the artist wants her audience to engage with. The exhibition also includes the screening of the film "Cavalo de Tróia," which provides context for the various layers that represent the artist's work while raising political questions about the challenges faced by trans people in Brazil, especially those who wish to enter the world of art.

 

Lyz Parayzo goes beyond exhibiting her works and is interested in creating an immersive environment that contextualizes the intention of her work through dialogue with architecture. The violence of the slender, sharp mobiles contrasts with the pink lighting that floods the space, creating an atmosphere that paradoxically triggers a state of alertness while arousing curiosity and desire.

 

The exhibition at the Aluminum Cultural Center marks the maturation of the artist's research with aluminum as a material. In her earlier works, the "Bixinhas" presented themselves as static to the viewer, who was invited to set them in motion by handling their sharp tips dangerously. Now, Lyz appropriates the spiral movement and expands its scale, flooding the architectural environment with her cutting mobiles, forcing the visitor to become part of this whirlwind, activating their body in a sinuous choreography, as alluring as it is dangerous.