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.
Who's the Savage in our Reservations?
Presented in / Published in portuguese as Quem é o Selvagem das nossas Reservas?
in 18ART
Who is the Savage in our Reservations problematizes the recasting of Nature in Zoned Spaces for Conservation. In recent years, conceptions of nature as a realm apart from, and subservient to the human, is growingly being challenged in prol of a recognition of an egalitarian and inextricably intertwined way with the human (sic) being-in-the world. An international grouping of artists and activists, in their various practices and conceptual engagements, participated in this transformation. Mirroring recent philosophical developments (such as new materialism, speculative realism, object-oriented ontology and new waves of eco-feminism) these have helped to rethink humanity's relation to nature and the environment, and to resit the legacy of old instrumental attitudes towards - and ideas of - nature, as well as the arrangements of reservation for its conservation. This paper portrays how this transformation has challenged the metaphysical division harming, negatively and violently, in the Amazonian forest and the planetary environment.
