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Drawing from the late 70s punk subculture – namely the Zine, Xerox and the D.I.Y. attitude – my work focuses on issues related to marginality, escapism and adolescence as well as the tensions that inspired this movement, which are inherent though mutating.

Over the course of this residency at Thirdbase, I have become familiar with an area of my home town that was mysterious and intriguing to me. Due to its suburban aspect, Xabregas (once an important center for manufacturing and distribution of 2ine and spirits) has become an axis for a segregated community, as central Lisbon became gentrified. It is common to cross errant bodies that roam the main road which divides the neighbourhood. On one side, one will find a Theatre/Acting School and on the other, a Salvation Army, intercepted by an overhead bridge which hosts the long distance intercity train line.

Submerged by the strong charge of these geographic and social singularities, this soon became a core interest — to crystalize the break point where the pariah becomes the hero. Like a patch that covers a gash, failing to hide the tear but glorifying the object. Using the black and white aesthetic, these graphic compositions represent fragments of narratives set in a dystopian future, where faceless figures are portrayed in their full splendour — they are streetwise, gifted with crude awareness and detached from the vices and desires of modern society, which often suppress the primitive and pure ways of the human being.