Breathing through the wound (2011 - present)
Breathing through the Wound makes reference to the images created by the Chorographic Commission, active between 1850 and 1862, intended to represent the occupations and trades of the time. Some of these activities may seem absurd or even brutal today, but they were valid means of subsistence during the colony and the beginning of the republican era.
Based on the style of these images, Castro creates a series of watercolors portraying self-sustaining jobs that are commonly found today, such as windshield cleaners or pedestrian overpass sweepers. These are unsolicited jobs paid for by pity. These activities seem to lead nowhere: someone hits the wheels of a car with a stick and asks for a few coins; the volunteer pothole-filler does his job, but in a few days, the hole is back to the same conditions or worse.
Castro’s watercolors are metaphors for the passage of time, the repetitive nature of everyday life that seems to lead nowhere, and allusions to futile activities and vicious circles that are intrinsic to the human condition.