Mãos nas mãos, o futuro

The idea for this exhibition arose from a conversation between Inês Mourão, Pedro Zema, and myself during a pleasant and fruitful visit to the Torres Vedras Communication and Culture Cooperative. Later, Raquel Agostinho, responsible for production, joined us. It is very stimulating to work with young students outside the ESAD.CR space, where I am a professor. Free from school protocols (assignments, grades, and the like), new possibilities open up in the relationship with and through work. The informality in the interaction, being – literally – outside the school space, allows for the sharing of anxieties, doubts, frustrations, and expectations, with an openness that is not always possible in the classroom. Fátima Andrea, Francisca Neves, Graziella Bonisolo, Joana Rita, Katherine da Costa, Maria Fradinho, Maria Matias, and Sofia Cabañas responded to a call for submissions launched in 2022. It was a coincidence and a surprise to receive portfolios and proposals from this heterogeneous group of students, 8 women. Reading a recently published article by Sónia Bernardo Correia made me even more aware of the limited space for female creators, and of the need to study and cite the work of women artists as a form, however naive, of balance. In this exhibition, we walk hand in hand, attentively listening and learning, in the desire for a future with equal opportunities, a more just future.

Isabel Baraona

Artists contacts

— Fátima Andrea @fa.timaandrea @grupius_tattooatelier
— Francisca Neves @franciscaneves.art
— Graziella Bonisolo grazibonisolo.myportfolio.com @grazi.bonisolo
— Joana Rita cargocollective.com/joanarita @_joana_rita_
— Katherine da Costa @realkatherinedacosta
— Maria Fradinho @fradinho_artist
— Maria Matias @mariamatiias
— Sofia Cabañas @sofiapcabanas