13 Dec — 31 Jan 2025

Sete, by Nuno Félix da Costa / curated by Mercedes Vidal-Abarca and Diogo Ramalho

"Irony is embarrassing because it is embarrassing, but it is how poetry distinguishes itself from geography; as in the crimson softness of dusk, an effusive silence takes height, and what is seen is the poetic striptease. The poet always writes in a timeless spotlight, portage words to a place that he takes from inside his brain, from a dream or an advertisement for an exotic vacation, but, in fact, he continues to speak of the language whose magnifying glasses and telescopes prohibit him from the way."*

"Sete" is, literally, the set of images whose quantity is denounced by the title. These images were extracted from the brain without reference to time or specific coordinates. If we trace one or more routes between them, we may be able to map new topographies and restore some sense of another place. If we discover the words in each passage, we will be able, along these paths, to uncover the poetry that lives within them.

NUNO FÉLIX DA COSTA / He was born in Lisbon in 1950, where he lives and works. Psychiatrist, he was a professor at FML (Psychology, Psychiatry, Psychopathology, Psychophysiology, Neurophysiology, Neurosciences). He has exhibited painting, photography, and painting about photography since 1983. He has published four photography books: 'Retratos de hábito' (Assírio &Alvim, 1983), 'Arte última' (Casa Fernando Pessoa, 1998), 'Portulíndia' (Córtex Frontal, 2009), 'Salão Lisboa' (Companhia das Ilhas, 2020) and 'O mundo mesmo' (2021, Cepe), and 'Portugal era assim' (Córtex Frontal, 2024). He has published six photography books since 1983. Also, since 1983, he has regularly exhibited photography, paintings, and paintings about photography. Since 1995, he published nine poetry and four prose books.

* Nuno Félix da Costa, Pequena Voz. Anotações Sobre Poesia, 2016