On Parafiction

Salomé Lamas has produced over thirty projects, which have been installed and screened internationally, both in cinema auditoriums, contemporary art galleries, and museums. Each of them opens a door onto a different social reality, usually characterized by its geographical and political inaccessibility. The artist’s interest in impenetrable, politically ambiguous contexts is guided by concerns and the need to problematize reality that otherwise would not be possible. The web of relations making up the socio-political fabric of her projects is made visible through representational strategies, for which she adopted the term parafiction. Rather than complying with a shapeless meaning of parafiction, for which there is no established terminology, she proposes its expansion and resignification.

In her artistic practice, parafiction can be read in the light of its prefix “para-”, in which we encounter various disruptive effects that are vital for its comprehension. Derived from the Latin, “para-” indicates “alongside, adjacent to, beyond or distinct from, but analogous to”; in certain word combinations it can also mean “wrong, irregular” pointing towards an “alteration” or “modification”; further, “para-” implies “separate, defective, irregular, disordered, improper, incorrect, perversion or simulation.” In this way, a parafiction would be something in which fiction has been perverted, altered, modified, or pushed beyond its point of reference, as opposed to remaining within the boundaries of the category of fiction. It can also be understood as a “simulation” of fiction, pointing to a distortion of the border around what is considered fiction, thus reaching what is on the other side of that border: that is, the world of non-fiction, or seeking the “real” world. Thus, instead of fiction being used to blur the border with non-fiction, it is used as a way of expanding and transcending those boundaries.

Salomé Lamas begins from the principle that we do not have access to a stable reality. Instead, we have an excess of meanings, interpretations, explanations, manipulations, (de)constructions, and evaluations that go into narratives and systems that sustain and occupy us. Consequently, the need for appropriating the idea of parafiction comes from a questioning of how human subjectivity is formed, drawing on psychoanalysis, with the aim of clarifying and expanding concepts such as real (something that is out of reach), reality, symbolic, and imaginary. Thus, she is led to operate at the border between fiction and non-fiction, employing representation and hypothesis generation through certain meditative criteria and a deontological code relative to what is plausible, assuming consciously the “task of the translator”—comparable to illusionism—and pushing its boundaries.

In this context, she draws on distinct non-fictional strategies that include ethnographic research, as well as thought experiments, reflexivity, restaging, and performativity, among others, to explore the limits of fiction. This is visible in the development of a working methodology where we find various manifestations of parafiction, such as scenarios where characters and fictional stories intersect with the world as we are experiencing it. These combined strategies, to the detriment of other speculative aspects, form a sort of hypothesis that retains a level of exactitude with reality, but also questions its authority. Through parafiction, it is possible to take a convention and deconstruct it, distort it, expose the impossibility of providing evidence for the truth, to the point that doubts are raised about its validity, yet still producing reasons for understanding it as plausible.

Salomé Lamas problematizes both sides of the border between historical and imaginary worlds, and records how they have changed over time, by understanding parafiction as a fundamental translation tool for defining identity, language, and culture. Intensifying, exaggerating, and speculating on how the world is made sensible, by triggering moments that reveal their fabrication, in a post-truth context heightened by the technological and globalized nature of our times. To reveal this transformation is a continuous and thorough undertaking, but also one that is spiritual, having the ability to relate the individual sphere (private) with the social sphere (public), and so introducing new information and perspectives on our past, present, and future. Thus, although conscious of limits and apparent contradictions, it helps give form to the chaos of life and endow it with significance, in a compromise between reality and its fictionalization.

The text results from the correspondence between Salomé Lamas and Sara Magno. It aims to synthesize the exchange between the two within the process of inventory-taking and reflection upon the artist’s work, a methodology termed “speaking nearby”.

Commissioned by Batalha Centro de Cinema for Salomé Lamas: Parafiction, Porto (10 December 2023 – 3 March 2024)

Timeline of adoption of the term parafiction*

2012 – Terra de Ninguém (2012) (film premiere) Berlinale Forum, Berlin, 2013.
Beginning of a theoretical-practical research project “Problems of translation and critique in Parafiction: On the creative act and other pragmatisms alongside” educational activities.

2015 – Paraficção (solo exhibition) curated by João Ribas, Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Serralves, Porto, 2015

2016 – “The Working Hour: Salomé Lamas, Eldorado XXI” (article), Michael Sicinski, Cinema Scope Magazine, Toronto, 2016

2016 – Parafiction I (selected works) Mousse Publishing, Milan, 2016

2023 — Paraficção (solo documentary exhibition) commissioned by Guilherme Blanc, Batalha Centro de Cinema, Porto, 2023

2026 – Parafiction II (selected works), Mousse Publishing, Milan, 2026

* Carrie Lambert-Beatty. 2009. “Make Believe: Parafiction and Plausibility”, October Vol. 129 (summer 2009), pp.51–84. MIT Press.

What is parafiction for Salomé Lamas:

Salomé Lamas’s upheaval with parafiction lies in her ability to create deeply engaging, intellectually challenging, and ethically complex works. She blends reality and fiction in ways that are often indistinguishable and whose limits are observed, explored, critically questioned, or unveiled to the viewer.

She invites viewers to question their assumptions about truth, narrative, and the power dynamics involved in storytelling. Her films are not just about telling stories but using storytelling to frame critical themes, making her part of the evolution of parafiction in cinema/contemporary art.

I. Blurring Documentary and FictionSeamlessly blending documentary material with fictional elements, creating films that are neither entirely true nor entirely false. This approach forces viewers to question the authenticity of the images and stories they are presented with, making them more active participants in interpreting the narrative.

II.. Exploring Subjectivity and Memory
Exploring the idea of subjective memory and how personal and collective histories are constructed, delving into philosophical undertones such as exchange and communication, putting to the test something that can't be said, can't be experienced, like an affect that can't manage to exist. The lack of lack, that which can never be named, never identified. Parafiction is used to highlight the fluidity of memory and the ways in which stories are shaped by the storyteller’s perspective, as well as by political and social contexts.

III. Ethical Ambiguity and Viewer Responsibility
Placing viewers often in a position where they must grapple with ethical ambiguities. Mixing fact with fiction challenges the viewer to consider the implications of believing or disbelieving the narrative presented, assisting in reflection and training our minds to confront other kinds of information. This approach questions the ethics of representation and the audience's responsibility to engage with the media.

IV. Disrupting Traditional Narrative Structures
Disrupting traditional narrative structures with parafictional strategies (mix of archive footage, re-enactments, performativity, interviews), creating non-linear, fragmented films, or deliberately withholding key information to mirror the complexity and uncertainty of real-life events, where truth is often elusive.

V. Interrogating Historical Narratives
Interrogating historical narratives, often revisiting events or figures from the past with a critical lens. By introducing fictional elements into history examination, to question the reliability of historical records and how history is constructed and remembered.

VI. Exploration of Marginality and Liminality
It depicts how global forces like capitalism, colonialism, environmental exploitation, and Western cultures lead to human exploitation and inequality. Themes of alienation, displacement, survival, the complexities of living in a critical zone, migration, and marginal lives in changing societies (nomadic herders, Indigenous communities on the fringes of modernity) are featured in experimental media speculations that often occur in liminal spaces between the physical and psychological.
These liminal spaces are non-where. In the nowhere-ness, human extremes can sometimes be perceived, and complicated truths about life and the state of the world can sometimes be told.

VII. Framing Critical Themes
Framing critical themes that often delve into deeper social, political, ethical, or philosophical concerns.
These themes often intersect and overlap with allegorical structures, providing complex, multi-layered perspectives on the subject matter. They invite viewers to engage with the work in a way that goes beyond surface-level interpretation, promoting deeper conversations and encouraging critical thinking and analysis.

Power and Authority: Who holds power, how it is exercised, and its impact on individuals and societies.

Identity and Self: Questions of personal, cultural, or national identity, exploring how individuals or groups define themselves and are defined by others.

Gender and Sexuality: Examining constructions of gender roles and the dynamics of patriarchy and feminism.

Race and Ethnicity: Issues of racism, colonialism, cultural appropriation, and the experience of marginalized communities.

Class and Socioeconomic Inequality: How class divisions affect access to resources, opportunities, and power.

Technology and Its Impact: The influence of technological advancements on society, ethics, and human behavior.

Environmentalism and Sustainability: The relationship between humans and the natural world, addressing climate change, conservation, and ecological justice. Exploration of how economic forces and climate change are altering ancient traditions and landscapes.

Freedom and Oppression: Themes related to liberty, control, censorship, and the human struggle for autonomy.

Memory and History: How history is remembered, retold, and its significance for contemporary life. Exploring historical trauma, confronting hidden histories, and political violence.
Alienation and Belonging: How individuals feel disconnected or integrated within social groups or broader societal frameworks.

VIII. New Information and Perspectives
Producing new information and perspectives (thought experimentation and speculative models) as an additional module that connects physical and digital spatiotemporal with alternative potential for pasts, presents, and futures.

IX. Aesthetics guidelines
Prioritizing orthopedic imagery in a world saturated by images and information using long, contemplative, and atmospheric sequences, granting slowness, extended temporality, fixed shots that test duration, the fabric of reality that weighs down our lives.
The sound auditory atmosphere often complements the visual austerity with structural symmetries, contrasting dimensions, sharp lines, and geometry.
Cubist editing, ambient sound, and periods of stark silence are used to create tension and reflection in observational scenes, along with minimal dialogue.
Cutting or camera turning only occurs when strictly necessary. Other non-cinematic forms and influences foul the cinematic grammar.

Line of Action	Focus Area	Details	Key Factors/Considerations	Challenges	Philosophical Reflection
Explore Historical & Political Context	Political violence, wars	Delving into political instability	Impact on marginalized lives, aftermath of violence	Sensitive handling of traumatic events, survivor stories	Collective memory shapes individual identity and public consciousness; tension between survival and forgetting.
Investigate Marginality & Social Displacement	Migrant workers, rural communities	Examine displacement due to modernization or conflict	Global capitalism, environmental degradation	Access to marginal communities, portrayal of survival	Alienation of individuals from their roots and the clash between personal narratives and societal forces.
Address Environmental Destruction	Deforestation, pollution, industrialization	Analyze the impact of development projects	Loss of cultural identity, forced relocation	Obtaining authentic insights from affected communities	Destruction of nature as a metaphor for the erosion of humanity’s spiritual connection to the Earth; progress vs. preservation.
Depict Cultural & Spiritual Practices	Indigenous rituals, spiritual conflicts	Contrast traditional belief systems with modernity	Preservation of ancient rituals vs. industrialization	Balancing modern and traditional elements in the narrative	Tension between modernity and tradition: loss of spiritual meaning in an increasingly materialistic world.
Examine Urban Decay & Alienation	Urban poverty, informal economy	Explore life in megacities where wealth contrasts starkly with poverty	Alienation, survival in chaotic environments	Accurately portraying harsh living conditions	Dehumanizing effects of urban alienation, where individuals are swallowed by the anonymity of the city.
Study Censorship & Control	Government surveillance, social credit systems	Focus on political repression	Personal resistance vs. state control	Navigating sensitive political landscapes safely	Interplay of freedom and control in shaping identity synthesis; the role of silence and fear in the public and private spheres.
Investigate Global Labor Exploitation	Workers’ rights, human trafficking	Look into harsh labor conditions	Global exploitation, economic disparities	Ethical handling of vulnerable subjects	Commodification of human life and labor, raising questions about dignity and survival in a capitalist world.
Analyze Public vs. Private Space	Personal vs. collective identity	Explore the tension between public persona and private life, especially in conflict zones or under repressive regimes	Ideological control, social expectations	Portraying the invisible struggles within public facades	Contrast between internal freedom and external repression, and how the self is negotiated in private vs. public spaces.
Explore Ontological-Epistemological Dualities	Subjective memory, personal vs. collective history	Parallel narratives, set in both concrete and abstract planes, reflecting human subjectivity and epistemological tensions	Interplay between personal memory, societal structures, and political history	Balancing fragmented, non-linear storytelling with thematic clarity	Constructed memories shape our perception of reality. The fluidity of truth, memory, and the boundaries between fiction and lived experience. Personal histories are influenced by political contexts.
Examine Human Impact and world views	Progress and apocalypse	Humanity's impact on Earth	Tension between growth and collapse	Addressing complex ecological issues without oversimplification or didacticism	Can humanity pilot itself away from self-destruction, or is it bound to repeat the cycle of progress and devastation.
Analyze Relational Power Dynamics	Systems of repression, social, political, and spiritual disintegration	Power imbalances and emotional conflict in a world where societal, political, and spiritual structures have eroded	Alienation from the planet and between individuals	Capturing emotional resonance while portraying the breakdown of collective meaning	Pillars of society collapse. The possibility of reconstructing shared understanding in the face of disintegration.
Explore Challenges of Language and Communication	Social conventions, existential quests	Language both connects and separates individuals	The artificiality of communication models and kinship structures, leading to existential misunderstandings	Navigating complex dialogue while emphasizing communication breakdowns	Language shapes human relationships and the tension between what is said and what remains unsaid, or what is un-named, especially in an era of disconnection.
Explore Narrative Structure	Parafiction, subjective storytelling	Fragmented, non-linear style, blending reality and fiction, making the viewer question the boundaries of truth and memory	Blurring the lines between concrete reality and speculative, abstract reflections	Engaging viewers with ambiguity while maintaining philosophical depth	Fiction allows to confront the uncertainties of life and memory mirroring the complexity of truth.