À flor da pele

A glass. A mug. A plate. A spoon. A fork. A knife. Chopsticks. A bowl. A cup. A kettle. A pot. A pan. A tablecloth. A candle.

What are we feeding? Why are we here? What do you want to give? What are you receiving? Where is it coming from? Do you think with your mouth? Did someone make it for you? Do you sometimes make it for yourself? What stayed? Did you bring it with you? Do you miss it? Do you miss them? Can you share it with others? Do you want more? Did you have enough? Are you going inside? Is it there? Can you find it?

À flor da pele is about emotions being so present as if they were at the surface of the skin, where skin is as soft and fragile as a flower, and you could be on the verge of blooming or exploding. It is a portuguese expression that directly translates to "flower of the skin".

Drawing from the emotions felt by the experiences of immigration and loss, a space of warmth is created, conjuring memories of friendship, home and community. Embracing the present and the past with stories of people and the knowledge received from them.

In this performance, we meditate on practices of care, by evoking memories and rituals deriving from our origins, objects and foods carried through time along with their stories of grief and love.

Do you feel warm now?

Matilde Gazeau Frade is a Portuguese artist and book designer based in Brussels. She works around devotion and grief, love and loss, the everyday and the poetic, the slowness and the complexity of the artistic practice which take form in books, performances, installations, poems and lists of feelings.

Sara Pasternacki is a Portuguese artist based in Brussels. Sara’s approach to art has been characterized by her interest in creating a bridge between our inner and outer worlds, to play and bring into the physical realm people's desires, fantasies, stories and experiences. Her research finds its form and shapes in performance, installation and drawing.