Joana Rafael is an architect and researcher working on ecological issues related to pollution and contamination in buildings and territories, with a particular interest in the material conditions of construction and environmental contamination. Her research investigates the materiality and limits of physical infrastructures in relation to Earth systems, as well as human–nature relations mediated by dynamics of human impact, with particular attention to radiological contamination. In parallel, she develops a practice of collaboration with artists, research and writing, as well as consultancy on projects in the fields of architecture, art, and ecology. Joana has taught courses related to Contemporary Culture at institutions including ESAP, ISCE Douro, Central Saint Martins, and the University for the Creative Arts. She is a member of CEGOT and CEAA, and co-founder of REFINERY BOARD. Joana holds a Master’s degree in Architecture and Urban Culture from Metropolis, as well as a Master’s in Research Architecture and a PhD in Visual Culture from Goldsmiths, University of London. She also obtained a specialization certificate in Healthier Materials and Sustainable Construction from Parsons School of Design. She is currently completing a Master’s in Visual Arts Education. Alongside her academic work, Joana is a farmer.
Domestic Dusts
DIY leaflet commissioned for Valise en Carton, an itinerant exhibition of riso prints curated by Inês Moreira and Parábola Critica, Associação Cultural
on Household Dust
Household dust contains the archeological remains and trace materials of our bodily existence and of the city we live in. The clothes we wear, what we eat, of our pets and plants, remnants of the present and of the past, of lovers, the houses we inhabit as well as the erosion of our communities' mass-produced and mass-consumed material realities and the environments that hosts our houses. It hangs in the air, migrates in shape-shifting (aggregative and disintegrating) forms, gravitates towards and settles on (bordering) surfaces, amalgamates with moisture to become dirt.
In its eternal return, dust chronicles our individual activities and collective lives, turning surfaces into domestic battlefields, screens for inscription and projection of fantasies. Channeling Pollock, Dreaming of Shrimp and Cherry Blossoms document and play with these interpretations – disclosing dust as a kind of phenomenal community, a place where parts of all us, living beings and inanimate entities incessantly gather. Composing Domestic Dusts, (from Portuguese Pós Domésticos), the projects explore multi-dimensional alien realm in which we can find dreamlike formations through an animistic lens, as well as the realism of our fears in astonishing detail - related to the remains, fragments and particles – the ensemble of tiny units.
