The Noble Island 2016 from Susan Leen on Vimeo.
The Noble Island is a site-specific project undertaken in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on a residency at Largo das Artes.
The project contrasts the mythical island of Hy-Brasil against contemporary issues in Rio de Janeiro, examining ideas of utopia and the role that fiction plays in the creation of history and cultural identity.
The ephemeral intervention took place in the square at Largo do Sao Francisco de Paula in Rio de Janeiro’s downtown. The lines drawn represent the contours of Hy-Brasil and the division in the island due to two mountain ranges, also alluding to the ‘Cidade Partida’ the name sometimes used to refer to the social inequalities in Rio de Janerio. The powdery lines drawn in tapioca represent the contours of the utopic island location and problematise the notion of real and imaginary borders in everyday life.