Light Up: II Movement
2016
White Loft • Lisbon
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There are many ways to see something that can surprise us, interest us, or to simply stumble upon something unexpectedly. A mosaic of hands, for instance, like the one proposed in João Freire’s new exhibition. Sets of fingers, tendons, gestures defined in the air, without any apparent intention. Apparently.
However, at a second glance, one might find feelings that tell a story and its emotions, such as the emotions that coexist around a table, among friends. Potential opponents, rivals, if just for a moment.
Like the palm that stretches confidently, open, while another gets narrower, timid. The finger-pressure that defines the groove, next to a soothing expression that relaxes the pulse. The accumulation of autonomous, self-defined poses give room for overlapping interpretations. A series of characters that feel alive, that live in their own skin and make themselves unique, detachable, albeit sharing the moment together.
How many voices are speaking? Whose hand is crossing in front? It does not matter, or it is what matters the least. The one thing they all have in common is the beam of light that pervades the whole choreography, giving a spotlight, in high contrast, to each texture and shape. The shadows are defined in a way that makes the precision of the details come to light, instead of being smudged and hidden.
It is this very same shared focus that denounces the gestures in this lively conversation. Like in all conversations, with overlapping voices that cut and complete sentences, laughters, silences. An exchange that defies definition, finding warmth instead in strokes often interrupted, purposely indistinct. One can see it as one desires, there are many ways to look.
António Diegues Ramos
Translation by Nuno Beleza Freire
