27.11 – 18.01.2025
Portas Vilaseca is pleased to present “Achados & Perdidos” (Lost & Found), Íris Helena‘s solo show at the gallery space in Rio de Janeiro.
Curated by Lucas Albuquerque, the exhibition intertwines the artist’s most recent research—initiated in London during her residency at Gasworks—with her earlier investigations. While the former explores photographic archives from the Cotton Cycle period in Paraíba, which in the 18th century drove the demand for cotton exports through the use of enslaved labour, the latter delves into the relationship between horizons and ruins in the urban landscape, a complementary facet of the idea of modernity and progress.
“Lost & Found” examines the intersection of collective memory and the construction of modernity through sculptural objects and installations. The exhibition investigates the traces left by historically forgotten bodies, offering a critical reflection on the narratives of modernity and the ghosts that continue to haunt its history.
On the first floor, the series Primeira Pedra (First Stone) focuses on the hands of workers who participated in the construction of Brasília, captured in archival photographs. Reinterpreted by Helena, these images are given new life in Portuguese stone mosaics, a defining symbol of urbanism forged in colonial Brazil. The fragmented gestures—hands holding tools, resting, or raised in protest—reveal stories of struggle, resistance, and silenced dreams. The use of stone as a medium reinforces the idea of poetic archaeology, transforming these hands into modern fossils that demand visibility and reflection.
On the second floor, the series Contos do Algodão (Cotton Tales) turns to another chapter of modern exploitation, recovering the history of the Cotton Cycle in Paraíba. Through images transferred onto fabric, Íris Helena evokes the precariousness of the enslaved labour that sustained the export of this commodity in the 18th century. The instability of the images—often blurred or torn by the fabric’s weave—reflects the difficulty of retrieving erased memories while insisting on the urgency of giving substance to these absences.
By connecting the “spirit of Brasília” with the Cotton Cycle, Helena draws an arc that questions the human costs of modernity and the ambiguities within the narratives of “order and progress.” As Albuquerque notes, “As in a large distribution center for ownerless objects, sailing over the remnants of a project for humanity (…) that was dreamed by many, but instrumentalized by few. It is from within these layers of files that Íris Helena claims property of these memories, not for her own, but for the contempora- neity that has shaped us.”
Info
“Achados & Perdidos” [ Lost and Found ] – Íris Helena
Curator: Lucas Albuquerque
Opening: 27.11.2024, Wednesday, 7:00 pm | The exhibition runs until 18.01.2025.
Location: Portas Vilaseca Gallery – Rua Dona Mariana, 137, house 2 – Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro, RJ.
Visiting times: Tuesday to Friday (11:00 am to 7:00 pm); Saturdays (11:00 am to 5:00 pm).
Free admission.
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Pictures gallery
by Rafael Adorján
