Brazilian artist Herbert Baglione finds ways to bring life to forgotten spaces. His ongoing project titled 1000 Shadows takes his works into places like a 16th century church in Celles Sur Belle and an underground hospital complex in Niort, France. The beautiful site-specific installations feature a few different artistic approaches. Sometimes, he’ll carefully arrange objects, like wooden chairs, into large designs that flow throughout the space. Baglione will also paint murals that wrap around the ceiling and onto the floor, as well as objects that subtly hang from the architecture.
Although the style of his works vary, they all interact with their spaces in a similar way. Baglione uses elements of what’s already there to reimagine and transform the rooms. The result is striking-yet-unexpected imagery; you wouldn’t envision walking into a church and seeing chairs set up this way.
Baglione assesses each location and considers how to craft a unique “shadow” in the deserted environment. He uses the phrase “the path that the soul takes” as a guide and writes, “It is as if the soul is leaving an invisible trail on these places.”
