Memórias à flor da pele by Sofia Beça and Paulo Pimenta

The exhibition “Memórias à flor da pele” (Skin Deep Memories) transports us to what is simultaneously far away and close to us, or to the way in which the past can be brought to life in the present – which at this moment inevitably becomes the past. Moments of experience that have been lived through and about which it makes sense to extol the intensity or dimension that sends shivers down our spine and shakes our soul. The skin, in Sofia Beça's works, has the expressiveness of catharsis, of purgation. Skin with textures and tones that suggest small contained explosions, everyday automatisms, endless repetitions of gestures, organized actions, paths, and routines carried out here, on this earth, with the soil, with the clay that absorbs, as we ourselves absorb...

Memórias à flor da pele (Skin Deep Memories) is also the title of a work in partnership with Paulo Pimenta. Two reflections on the self, with a non-linear and non-chronological structure, resulting in a kind of mirrored dialogue where fragmented records are engraved through and among which we can find or rediscover ourselves. A two-handed writing that, in Paulo Pimenta's work, is always understood as a moment of sharing.

His photography is like deep dives, discreet, complex, and quietly disturbing. He shares his feelings through his vision, which, unlike the inattentive gaze of contemporary daily life, sticks with us. They are journeys of, through and into life - through the times and places of our most diverse selves. Bodies that embody characters and reflect fantasies, ghosts, the bittersweetness of moments, of human beings, of places near and far, stirring our most intimate secrets and fears.

Thus, they express feelings as different and as close as passion or hurt, love or loss, sensations and emotions that, because they are so quietly contained, seem to be approaching implosion. What is the best path? Perhaps we will find the answer by moving forward..., "drawing and sculpting at different rhythms, speeds... without haste, but towards a pleasant goal (Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, 1712-1778) in which time and the way we enjoy it, without knowing what will happen after the next step, encourages us to continue. Walking, running, stopping, moving towards... we follow and/or are followed, we stumble, sometimes we fall and get up again... we feel and are felt, we observe and are observed, we listen and are heard, we understand and are understood, sometimes more or better and sometimes less or worse... we are moved and are moved.". 

Rute Rosas Fevereiro, 2014