Palimpsest series (2011-14)

Ellen Nunes

Two-channel video installations

Dimensions variable

Inspired by the ancient practice of a Palimpsest—a manuscript whose layers of erased text are still visible beneath a newer inscription—this project explored how individual memory and a city's history exist as layered, shifting realities. It framed the urban landscape as a visual palimpsest, a place where layers of history and previous functions remain visible or discernible beneath its present form.

To investigate this connection, I contrasted archival footage from the 1950s of São Paulo and Campinas with new documentary material I created by re-creating the original filmmakers' routes. This layered material was used in a series of installations called "Palimpsest," which featured multiple projectors casting images onto semi-reflective glass screens.

The deliberate superimposition of images, reflections, and shadows directly engaged the viewer's body, transforming them into a site of perception and rewriting. This approach aimed to construct an immersive environment that reflects the subjective and fluid nature of memory, urban landscapes, and space-time.