Cavalinhos, 2017
Video, 5’02’’.
The video presents gas and oil suction machines well known in the region of Linhares - ES popularly as "cavaletes" or "cavalinhos". These mechanical pumps are installed on farms and pump thousands of gallons of oil and natural gas daily.
The repetition procedure is constant and coincides with the cycle of light present in the video that starts with the sunrise and ends with the sunset. It is displayed in loop creating a relationship with the rhythm of the incessant work of machines in constant extraction of the natural resources.
The title "Cavalinhos" (little horse) promotes the unpretentious relationship these machines have with the landscape, even becoming a tourist points for travelers and wanderers. In this context the term "cavalo" (horse) refers to the animal as well as the unit of power measurement used to express force. The machines are installed with the promise of royalty payments, but they pollute the soil, the water table and make food production unfeasible, a symbol of impoverished and obsolete rationalism.
The discourse of progress and social prosperity throughout the military regime as it is today, follows the logic of economic production, uninterrupted labor and the exploitation of natural resources with the promise of prosperity, but it promotes even more economic dependence and the risks of market fluctuations.
