A blurry photograph, a hidden face. I view it as a visual device in creating the sensation of presence. A face can be too specific and personal, and leave no space for the imagination to roam. The hidden faces also have another function, to conjure the sensation of trying to remember a dream, when the memory is deeper than what you can consciously access. I want the viewer to viscerally feel that the figure is real, like in dreams and memories where the details fade but recognition is there nonetheless.

From my seat on the sidelines, I can sense the passion, harmony, and intensity of the future breath in the blurry figure. It seems like a shadow is searching for the sun. I got really triggered by the serenity of the slowness of the shadow’s movement. There was great beauty in there, I didn’t try to let it do anything else, it didn’t have to be anything, it was just the movement of the shadows and the reshaping of the environment, and of the thoughts. After a while, looking at the details, I understand the meaning of those movements.

‘Being a champion is an inner journey that has passion, love, and heart. Winning externally on the scoreboard is a by-product of the victories within’.

In the solitude of the basketball court, the sound of the ball hitting the iron and cement, marks the repetition toward art, on the way to achieving his own dream.

‘Being a Champion starts long before any win or result. Being a Champion is about building character, belief, trust, and love. Being a Champion means not being afraid of failure, understanding that failure is our greatest teacher in life. Being a Champion means sacrificing individual stats or goals, understanding that we will always go further together’.

Being a Champion is a choice. The basketball court allows you to embrace your limitations and develop your own style, free from the mental compulsions imposed by society. Trial and error has been part of our awareness, it is how we test our capacities and how we solve problems.

‘I used to think too much before doing stuff. But when you put your brain away, intuition comes into play and some unplanned stuffs start to happen’.

Being a Champion means possessing specif traits: courage, tenacity, persistence, fearlessness, and the willingness to suffer and do whatever it takes to succeed. The basketball court showed you the importance, beauty and joy of letting strangers into one’s own space.

The hidden face speaks through ‘imagery’: colors, contrast, framing and composition. The resulting ‘scenes’ have a vivid and intense chiaroscuro quality to them. The court encourages you to play and think beyond the box. You’ve been dreaming of those moments since you were a child, trying to relieve what your ‘heroes’, and friends have taught, and showed you. You’re representing the history and culture of your favorite Sport, it is a feeling unlike any other. That’s what Street Basket is ... an emotion.

In refraining from showing and writing things as I perceive them, I leave the door open for others to find meaning in my work and resonate with what, in everyday life, they can no longer ‘see’.