A Knife All Blade / The Façade

"A Knife All Blade" (2020–2025, ongoing
) is an ongoing visual research and photographic series by Brazilian artist Rafael Roncato, developed since 2020 during his years living in The Hague, the Netherlands. The project examines the enduring colonial legacy of Dutch Brazil, a brief yet economically and symbolically charged occupation of northeast Brazil by the Dutch West India Company (1630–1654), by re-editing its colonial visual archive within the contemporary Dutch urban landscape. Drawing from collections at the Nationaal Archief, Mauritshuis, and Rijksmuseum, Roncato reappropriates paintings, maps, and documents originally produced during the Dutch Golden Age to frame Brazil as exotic, fertile, and conquerable. Commissioned under the governance of John Maurice of Nassau-Siegen and authored by figures such as Frans Post and Albert Eckhout, these images are treated as aesthetic instruments of empire. Through collage, juxtaposition, and a combination of analogue and digital photography, Roncato fractures these historical narratives and inserts them into present-day scenes of The Hague and Amsterdam, revealing symbolic sites, overlooked details, and everyday façades where colonial traces continue to surface. The work connects past propaganda to the present city, questioning how visual power operates through framing, omission, and repetition. Inspired by João Cabral de Melo Neto’s poem Uma faca só lâmina (“A knife all blade”), the project understands each image as a “cut”: a blade without a handle, evoking fixed ideas that wound by insisting on singular, unresolved truths. The project extends into "The Façade" (2025), a publication created in collaboration with researcher Carolina Monteiro and designer Alex Gyurkovicz. Bringing together archival material, historical paintings, contemporary photography, and critical essays, the book does not function as a conclusion but as a critical assemblage, allowing images and texts to confront one another and expose the mechanisms through which colonial narratives are constructed, maintained, and circulated.

“Intriguing and thought-provoking, the Tropical Trauma Misery Tour photobook of the Brazilian Rafael Roncato is a brilliant foray into the style of a detective novel unfolding against the media spectacle surrounding former Brazilian President Jair Messias Bolsonaro. The focus on the pivotal year of 2018, marked by Bolsonaro’s stabbing during a polarised presidential campaign, sees the former president assuming a central role in an online political campaign where he maintains complete control over his narrative and self-presentation. The book stands as a testament to creativity, audacity and exceptional intelligence. I was thoroughly captivated by its enchanting and exotic style, adeptly exploring the intricate political narratives shaping our world. Through a captivating blend of creative elements and editorial tactics, this book emerges as a vital tool encouraging individuals to widely disseminate its message while condemning the dangers associated with misinformation. The blending of reality becomes a mode of resistance, unfolding as a meta-drama within the realm of political farce. This magnificent piece serves as an ironic guide, decoding the intricacies of Brazilian politics and media manipulation. It not only visually captures the impact of events but also acts as a potent gauge of the blurred line between truth and political performance. A must-see for those seeking a visual journey into the heart of contemporary Brazilian political discourse and for other countries that are contagiously impacted by this powerful farce” _Ângela Berlinde, artist, curator, researcher TROPICAL TRAUMA MISERY TOUR photobook won (Kassel) Dummy Award '23 (GER), Prêmio Lovely '23 (BR), and the Special Mention Award at Hong Kong Photobook Festival '23. The book was also shortlisted at the Images Vevey Book Award '23, Beyra Festival '23, Encontros da Imagem '23 portfolio review and Fiebre Dummy Award '22.