2

Gabriel Vituri

Did this number mean anything to you before you got this prompt?

Yes, definitely. My main subject of my photography is domestic life- my family. It started after my daughter was born. She was born on the second of September, so the number 2 is very specific for me. It reminds me of this starting point in my life. When I got the prompt, it was very obvious that I would not be able to run away from this coincidence. It meant a lot.

So where did you go from there?

It's been two and a half months that we've been living in another place because of Covid. We are outside the city- we live in São Paulo, which is a huge city. It's been almost three months we've been in the country. It's a completely different life for several reasons. This place is very different- it's been very intense to be with my daughter here. It's been adventurous.

I got the prompt, and the day after I was with my daughter, she was riding a horse. It's not a big horse, because she's a child. I don't know the word in English- we call it a pony.

Yeah, we call it a pony too.

We have been doing this a lot. She rides the pony and I hold the rope- we just go for sightseeing. But the day after I got the prompt, the pony escaped with my daughter. It was so fucking scary. The pony just got completely out of control, and I was running after it. I was just shouting at my daughter "just hold on- he'll stop!" The horse kept running. It was a very different experience- very frightening. After awhile she fell off- she was fine. Just a couple scratches, but she was very scared. That happened the second day- it really affected me. It was just something that was outside of my control. That's what all the world is living right now- we are out of control of what's happening. Brazil more than some other countries, because we also have a violent government. It's so scary. This is adventure. She fell off a horse, and she's not even three years old.

Yeah, it's interesting- adventure is something that we often seek- but is also implies that something is getting out of control. It can be really scary when things are out of control.

We think of adventure as something nice. When I was thinking about adventure, I wasn't thinking about it in terms of a matter of survival. Adventure as fun. The truth is, that we're here in this situation, in quarantine. But this is such a huge privilege- it's not the real reality that people are facing on the streets of São Paulo. People with health issues, without money, without work. When I started trying to make this work, about this key word 'adventure', I was thinking about something fun. Discovering things, or exercising some kind of fantasy.

After that, I started thinking. I'm not religious, but I decided to check out what God created on the second day, according to the Catholic story. I looked it up in the bible- on the second day he separated the sky from the water.

It was as if I was cataloguing our routine here. These days it's kind of predictable. We know that we will wake up. Probably we will see this or that animal. Then we'll start looking for changes in nature. So I took a lot of photographs, and asked myself how I could turn it into a piece. I thought I could make a contact sheet. I wanted it to show some motion- an unpredictable routine. Maybe the contact sheet could help me organize it- what's a day here like? And of course, my days are all with her. The number two reminds me directly of the existence of her. But it's also a way to link with this first reaction I had with the prompt. Considering that this is kind of a window which opens and takes you to another dimension, which narrative can I build here? That's what I was maybe trying to summarize.

Do you think about the number two differently now?

When I think about number two, and what I photographed, I think about the number two as a duo. I've been thinking about the idea of a trio, since I have my family- my daughter and my partner. But through this work I now think about what it's like to be in a duo. I feel like me and me my daughter (and also of course me and my partner) are a duo. This work is summarizes the adventures of that duo.

After participating in this project a second time, do you have any new advice for others?

I can't exactly say what the exact connection was with the reading of the bible to see what happened on day number two in the creation of the universe. I don't believe in this story, but I always like to do some research. My advice is to do some research, and then just let it go. Try to figure out a line, but don't get stuck to it.

Gabriel Vituri is a São Paulo-based journalist, researcher, and photographer. He is currently pursuing a doctorate degree focused on the structures of violence and police organizations as well as working as a freelance writer and editor. In 2017, prompted by the birth of his daughter, he began developing his artistic practice as a photographer, exploring the themes of intimacy, cohabitation, encounters, and domesticity.