Red Door #28 - The TYPEWRITTEN issue

Focused on art, urban interventions
and creative projects that cause
a response and interactions
amongst people, as well as the
documentation of the stories of
his culture, Hal Wildson (1991) is a
writer and visual artist from Golás,
Brazil, taking the art world by storm
through his typewriter art.
Combining intense key work,
hidden messages and wordplay as
well as abstract spaces, dealing the
subjects of social consciousness
and memory, Wildson has
created his very own aesthetic
that surpasses the traditional
typewritten portraits and enters
into the realm of masterwork of
exceptional technical process,
diverse materials and a wide range
of thematic expressions.
Eloquent in his use of social
media to promote his work and
activism, the videos on his facebook
and instagram are hypnotic
scenes of Olivetti typewriters
slaving away rhythmically, ignoring
the bell sounds and spilling
ink over the edge of each intricately
colorful A4 page, creating
a puzzle of dozens of brightly patterned
pages which, once reconnected,
bring forth scenes of
contrasting beauty which simultaneously
encourage important
conversations, revealing visual
capsules from historic moments
to moving narratives of his people.
But his messages aren’t passive
activism.
Hal Wildson uses these platforms,
with over 50 thousand
followers, as documentation of
his artistic practice, behind-thescenes
process, and messages
of support to the indigenous people’s
struggle in Brazil against
predatory economic exploitation,
inequality and the memories
of the ancestors.
The texts, often autobiographical
letters, articles of interest,
or historical notations typed on
paper, build a weft of letters and
words that get lost in the immensity
of thousands of characters
which together reveal imagery
but separate are stunning pieces
of art. “We are made by what we
remember and shaped by what
we forget” says the artist, speaking
on the subject of “reconstructing”
the future, which
inspires his work.
Series and works with titles
such as “Letters from infance
and memory” (left) and “Amidst
the Ruins” (the scene of the
child reading the book on the
table of contents of this issue of
Red Door), hopefully but sharply
speak of our responsibility of
remembering, as an act of reconstruction
and rebuilding a future
together.
instagram.com/halwildson
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