All the film and photgraphic slide works that Pablo Pijnappel has made so far, have addressed big themes like identity and cultural dislocation through small, highly personal histories. After having completed films about his grandfather (1921-1977 1979-), his stepfather (Andrew Reid) and a family friend (Felicitas), the artist decided to trace the steps of his own father, Walderedo Ismael de Oliveira, In the exhibitioin Carcara.

All the film and photographic slide works that Pablo Pijnappel (Paris, 1979) has made so far concentrated on one of the artist’s relatives or close acquaintances. After having completed films about his grandfather (1921-1977 1979-), his stepfather (Andrew Reid) and a family friend (Felicitas), the artist decided to trace the steps of his own father, Walderedo Ismael de Oliveira, in the film work Caiçara.* Pijnappel deals with themes such as identity and cultural dislocation by investigating small, highly personal histories of people in his close surroundings.

Born in Paris, of a half-Dutch mother and a Brazilian father (currently residing in Tokyo), Pijnappel uses his own complex background as the starting point for compelling tales of adventurers and eccentrics.

The exhibition Caiçara revolves around the 30-minute registration Walderedo, which follows two different paths in which past and present intertwine. One path carried Pijnappel to his father in Tokyo, to find him leading a provisional existence as an artist and suffering from heavy depressions. Intimate scenes of Walderedo as the husband of his current wife and father of two children are alternated by exterior shots of his daily surroundings.

The other path deals with the family’s traces in Brazil,where Walderedo grew up as the son of a psychoanalyst in an artistic and intellectual environment. In Brazil too, Pijnappel filmed a wide range of exotic locations, which together form an allusive visual collage, connecting ideas about location, memory and identity.

Walderedo is flanked by a number of works that provide further insight into the ‘personage’ of Pijnappel’s father, including a montage of old 8mm films (made by the artist’s grandfather, the psychoanalyst Dr. Walderedo Sr.), and a slide work containing drawings by Walderedo.