Exhibitions /
AQUILO QUE O CORPO JÁ ESQUECEU
10.04 - 27.05
Sara Carneiro
Luis M. S. Santos
Nuno Silas
Sofia Yala
Curator: Ângela Ferreira
Throughout the centuries, the human body has been one of the major subjects of interest for artists. If we consider that we, as human beings, inhabit our bodies, the fascination of artists with it is hardly surprising. However, over time, the way artists approach the human body has naturally evolved. In recent years, much has been written about the body, and the focus has shifted to the idea of the body as a vehicle of memory, as an expression of new understandings of sexuality and gender, and as a racialized body.
In a bold and unusual approach, Sara Carneiro’s video work Colonial Project (2020–23) tackles the vast metaphor of colonial horror and the subsequent historical amnesia of its processes through a mostly abstract visual language. Frequently using the idea of the fluidity of matter and materials as evocative reminders of the mineral exploitation that founded the colonial project, the images she creates refer to the imposed domination of the land through the palm that grasps and squeezes, to the virginal body of milk and sugar, to the hand’s traces that refer to memory (or its loss), to scorched earth, and to eyes extinguished by fire. The work is marked by a great subtlety, but also by an inherent violence.
The work of Nuno Silas is openly focused on the idea of constructing African identity through the representation of the body. The concept of identity is ever-present in this powerful series of collages and digital montages. The works in this exhibition come from various moments in his practice, with a special focus on the series The Intensity of Identity (2019–20). The constant use of his own portrait serves as the starting point for a narrative of the transformed and meaningful body. The artist employs methods similar to psychic automatism to construct his images. This technique, used by the Surrealists, consists of freeing the unconscious and allowing the line — or in this case, photographic imagery — to flow without constraint or judgment. In these images and this body, we see allusions to imagined feelings, migration, desire, spiritual forces, violence, and even magic. It is a political essay of personal expression.
In her artistic practice, Sofia Yala consistently turns to the use and interpretation of family photographic archives to invite us to retell stories and figures between Angola and Portugal. In the series Type here to Search (2020), through the language of computing and the Microsoft search bar, Yala adds a contemporary layer to the archive, making us realize that, as viewers of these images, we are compelled to mentally investigate. The artist tells us that in these images we also see people who, although present in family albums, remain unknown — emphasizing the importance of photographic archives of Black families. On the other hand, in the series The Body as an Archive (2020–21), Yala shows us history inscribed through archival memories written on the surface of the skin, as if history were marked on the body. As an example, the artist shares the story of her grandfather, who worked in the merchant navy, documenting the family’s transition into the present. Through her use of varied materials and timelines, Sofia Yala’s work gives form to the essence of hybridity.
The surprising sculptural journey of Luís Santos is firmly rooted in the space we, as viewers, physically inhabit. These assemblages, presented at an almost human scale, create a special sense of empathy because they materialize as figures. The three works presented here —Fragments of Being #3 (2023), TV Contraption (2022), Void (2022)— emerge as imaginative and ambiguous figures that evoke the electronic and technological fears we are exposed to, the dismemberment of a body vulnerable to entangling networks, absorbing biological spaces that pull us into the void, or the distant and digital image of nature seen through a screen. In another moment, the glazed ceramic sculpture Anxious (2024) draws us closer to a more personal metaphor of the crossroads. The three crossed feet bring us to a halt… but there is also loose straw and clay bells that sound as we pass, announcing a more peaceful conversation with nature.
The title refers to the solo exhibition by Mozambican artist Luís Santos at the Franco-Mozambican Cultural Center (CCFM) in Maputo, Mozambique (2019), curated by Sara Carneiro.
Ângela Ferreira Lisbon, 2 April 2025
Sara Carneiro
Colonial Project Trilogy
2023
Video, color, stereo sound
22’09”
Luis M. S. Santos
Anxious
2024
Glazed stoneware
30 x 30 x 15 cm
Nuno Silas
De la serie “The Intensity of Identity”
2019-2020
Inkjet print on Hahnemühle PhotoRag 188gr
90 x 70 cm
Sofia Yala
De la serie ”Type here to Search”
2020
Inkjet print on cotton paper
57 x 80 cm