A mão que segura e a que se eleva no ar

Works by Mafalda Santos on display at alternative art-space Rampa, for the exhibition “The hand that holds and the one that rises in the air” curated by Pessoa Colectiva (Mafalda Santos and Susana Gaudêncio) with the participation of the artists: Isabel Baraona, Mafalda Santos and Susana Gaudêncio .

The Streets of Porto # 1 and # 2 (2020)– Diptych based on a photographic archive of graffiti found on the streets of Porto between 2018 and 2020. The fragments of tags and other graffiti that emerge on the surface of these works try to reveal the identity and gender tensions that use the street as a stage. The title is an attempt to establish a parallel with the work The streets of Lisbon by Ana Hatherly from 1977.

Bucolic, today / The forces of repression / Protected and obedient (2020)- Triptych made from excerpts from the book Stories that women tell- Real testimonies by Isabel do Carmo (2014) from which three anonymous testimonies of contemporary women were highlighted revealing echoes of a past marked by trauma and inequality. In the words of Isabel do Carmo: “It was in the public space that women won rights. However, everything was more difficult and slow in the private space. ”

“The hand that holds and the one that rises in the air uses poetry, words and art as means of resistance and freedom and, as a motto, Ana Hatherly’s concept of image-writing. United by Ana’s intelligent hand this exhibition gathers three artists in their different voices. An affiliation that does not constitute a tribute, rather a celebration. Susana, Mafalda and Isabel under Hatherly’s sign, firm hands, holding and fixing lines, convening revolutions of image and text.

Drawing and writing, whether figure or word, the hand performs a hypnotic and magical action. Paulo Pires do Vale says that this relation “is a place of metamorphosis, between text as an image and drawing as writing”. The hand is action bringing to the surface what was before invisible and silent, drawing black and enchanted lines over this reserve of imagination.

Poetic creation has always existed as an engaged practice of resistance. The political discourse of the status quo, on the other hand, features a unique and targeted voice, sustained by the denotative value of language and from which any ambiguity must be absent.”

Pessoa Colectiva, 2020