There is a thin, sticky layer that covers the surface of the retina, like a photographic emulsion or a nictitating membrane, and which more or less inconsistently dresses and undresses cities. Sometimes it’s possible to unveil it, like an adhesive that peels off and slips away; at other times, no matter how many layers we try to remove, we’re left with an impenetrable opacity. ‘third eyelid’ (terceira pálpebra) is a photographic series that brings together a set of images taken in urban spaces, consisting of a collection of apparently inert and static gestures, as if paralysed in an uncertain time, but which simultaneously reveal a city in movement and in transformation. In the dense opacity of the images, as well as in the attempt to reach nakedness or transparency, small tears or cracks appear, allowing us to peek beyond the translucent veil. The visual narrative is interrupted to make room for mysterious and clouded surfaces - symbols and little phantasmagories that hint at the impermanence of objects.

‍

“I try to let the film think. “— Harun Farocki

‍The Azores are an archipelago in the ‘middle’ of the Atlantic. Due to their privileged geographical position, these islands have been a place of enormous importance throughout history. This video essay aims to explore the visibilities and invisibilities inherent to the political agendas behind this geographical position through a two-channel video work that juxtaposes images of the magnificent landscapes often portrayed in Tourism advertisements, with media images of Lajes Airport, an important transnational military complex from the First World War to the present day.The contrast of these two visual sequences composed of ‘found-image’ seeks to reflect on the politics of landscape and its representation, through the simultaneous, although paradoxical, discourses in these locations.The film is accompanied by the soundtrack “Conquest of Paradise” (1992), by Vangelis, transformed and edited by me, slowing it down more than ten times, transforming it into an almost unrecognizable environment, with about forty-five minutes of duration. Each of these three elements — two videos and a soundtrack — has a different duration, creating asynchronous ‘loops’ and generating endless interactions, combinations and readings, in time.

Drawing inspiration from Walter Benjamin’s ideas on mechanical reproduction and perception, this work investigates how digital apparatuses can expand our sensory capabilities. The camera, or other technological devices, become an extension of vision, unveiling layers of reality beyond what the naked eye perceives. Just as microscopy revealed hidden worlds, digital tools allow us to see alternative structures in the everyday, emphasizing the interplay between the organic and the artificial. This project explores how ordinary objects, when seen from new perspectives, can resemble microscopic organisms, revealing reality as an interconnected pattern. The images challenge our perception of the mundane by transforming the familiar into something that can resemble a living cell in a process of division.‍

The distorted images evoke cell structures, bacteria, or even embryonic forms, questioning the boundaries between the micro and macro, natural and artificial. The contrast between organic-looking shapes and technological intervention invites viewers to reconsider how we define life, perception, and materiality. By manipulating perspective, light, and movement through usage of digital tools, Cells encourages a deeper reflection on how the mechanisms of perception shape our understanding of the world. The project seeks to bridge scientific observation with artistic experimentation, revealing a hidden continuity between the visible and the imperceptible.

They Dream Not is an arts-based research project that investigates places rich in nature, with diverse geography and weather conditions, to try to understand the profound relationship between the Earth and all its inhabitants (Animal/Plant/Fungus).

‍An on-going project that started from the study site of the Icelandic island, between glaciers and volcanoes, exploring the changes in the landscape over time, the socio-cultural relationship of its inhabitants with the elements that have dominated them, the migratory routes and their relationship with light and sound, and the creation of work in residence based on close collaboration with the nature of the place, between 2023-2024. The project also passed briefly through the region of Aveiro (2023) where it tackled the region’s cultural and historical heritage in relation to its environmental and civilizational biodiversity, the monocultures of cellulose and the recent fire catastrophe.

‍The project's expansion to other places arises from a desire to preserve and learn from nature. The urgency of maintaining a balanced and healthy world for future generations and to reverse the extinction of the ecosystems and the environmental crises has become the overriding message of the project They Dream Not. Only by broadening our knowledge, strengthening our appreciation of, sensitivity to and identity with Nature, and popularising natural knowledge in society through art and culture, are we able to appreciate life and preserve it for the future. This project also transforms the way I work with nature, allowing me to connect withterritories and their history in a more direct way, creating in-situ and ephemerally, in tune with the rhythms of nature.I favour slow and manual labour, (im)perfection and chaos to state-of-the-art technology, to weave Earth’s relations through alternative and historical photography, analog film, drawing and collage. Often intersecting the fields of biology, chemistry and geology, They Dream Not makes use of what Nature provides, favouring traditional cross-species relations of support.

On the banks of the river Ave and the river Vizela, there have always been murmurs of an activity that was slowly undermining the pillars of some of the municipalities and parishes that depended on its waters. The industrial flood that settled in the Ave Valley threatened the natural ecosystem – and the mental health – of what used to be one of the region's most striking landscapes. The pollution spread by the discharge of toxic products into the waterways has led to a total imbalance in the local fauna and flora. These attitudes have consequently led to many aquatic species moving to other areas, or simply being driven to decay. Just as the murmurs of the textile industry were heard among the local population, the possible existence of an exotic species in the rivers was also heard – among timid conversations – which, if confirmed, would easily unravel the abrupt disappearance of the others.