The art of Brazilian photographer Jacke Batista is inspired by Baroque paintings, when talking about aesthetics, as in earthy tones and drama.

an article written by Carmen Line Hust
ARTICULATE #26 | JAN 2021

The artistic drive of the Brazilian artist Jacke Batista (b. 1997) is generated from her feelings. She describes herself as a sentimental person, for whom everything is deep and dense. To her, this character is a virtue, as she uses it to analyze and understand what she’s feeling, and from there to express and expose it. By letting her feelings conduct her, her art is full of contrasts, specially between light and shadows, bringing a little of her interior deepness to the outside. The art of Batista is inspired by Baroque paintings, talking aesthetics, as light and darkness, earthy tones and of course the drama.

The preferred media of Batista is digital photography. She’s been involved with photography since she was a child. Back then, her roll often was in front of the cameras, and only later Batista learned how to stand behind the camera and how to shoot her own self-portraits. When she discovered the freedom of photographing herself, is when she found her artistical voice.

"The magic happens behind and in front
of the camera!"

Only in a few of her jobs, Batista made with a script, where she imagined how the light would be, the costume, the angle, the pose and many more elements that make it whole. But overall, her projects emerge on their own and the only thing that leads her, is her gut feeling. When she’s photographing, Batista lets her feelings emerge, portraying herself in certain poses, playing with the angles. When she’s photographing, Batista does many poses portraying the same feeling, until she catches the one representing the feeling the most. When she scripts her art, Batista feels trapped, and as she can’t fully express herself.

To Batista, the key element in creating a good composition is being oneself. Since her media is self-portraiture, Batista is utterly influenced by the American artist Cindy Sherman (b. 1954), from the period where Sherman created her self-portraits, using the characterization as a support, which initiated the project of Batista, creating three fictional women, to who she lent her body (as a support), in order to immortalize these through photography.

Furthermore, Batista is influenced by the Brazilian artist Danny Bittencourt, as Bittencourt manages to bring a large emotional charge expressed in a smooth way, states Batista. Also, she’s fascinated by the works of the Norwegian photographer Maren Klemp (b. 1984). To Batista, Klemp projects very strong feelings and reproduces harder photographs with an air of mystery. Although American Brooke Shaden’s (b. 1987) a surrealist photographer, she still inspires Batista, with her colors and how she plays with her body in several different situations and settings.

This article about Jacke Batista takes part of the 26th  magazine,  ARTICULATE #26. Read, download or order your print version of the full publication below. 

ARTICULATE #26 | International
ARTICULATE 26 is a magazine for contemporary art, packed with 80 pages of high quality content, showcasing the work of 5 professional artists, featuring the German painter Volkano, the French street art duo Murmure street, the American illustrator and visual artist Steven Russell Black, the Greek disturber Nefeli Kyriacou and Brazilian creative photographer Jacke Batista.