Worked on the Moon, with the Sun.
* Lavradas means working the soil; embroidering, and crafting wood.
This exhibition took place in Quinta do Ventozelo, a special vineyard in the Douro Valley hosting a temporary art program. Rooted in schist, Ventozelo lives off the river and the blazing sun. Native woods and wildlife surround the vineyards, olive tree fields, wine cellars, an organic farm, and a spice garden –and they all stem from the Douro.
The vibrancy, resonance, and lushness of the Quinta, the profusion of visible and invisible beings, the water, soil, and air, they all called for the works to be exhibited outdoors, to be infused by the Douro sun, wind, and rain. After a month and a half outside where they were altered by the elements, I reworked them, attentive to what the changes had brought. Afterward, they were moved indoors.
All works were made specifically for the exhibition, most were worked with vine and olive leaves, aside from ‘an arc of fire burnt on the rim of the horizon, and all around it the sea blazed gold’ from 2016 that was re-worked.
Catarina de Oliveira 