Second Wind

I painted the series Second Wind in Portugal between 2020-2022, and in this exhibition, eight paintings from it are shown.

All paintings are painted with watercolors on paper.

I arrived in Portugal about three and a half years ago, I live in the center of Portugal, where there is plenty of water from rivers, streams, springs, heavy rains, snowmelt water, the Atlantic Ocean, and more.

One of the most exciting forms of water for me is fog water. Almost every morning where I live, near the Mondego River, a thick fog rises from the river. So thick that you can't see much. It hides and masks the view to the point of blindness. Blindness in a white and misty world. These situations feed the series. I tried to find a connection between water and blindness; it is drawn with a lot of water and little pigment. Inside it are columns of smoke, beams of light, a blurred connection between the ground and the sky, and other possibilities that can be imagined in a vague space.

When you walk in this fog, the vision affects the breath; the breath is like a distance measurer—a bit like breathing in total darkness. The sound of the breath is different, and you feel that it, the breath, becomes closer and more pressing. The body activates a defensive mechanism against the inability to see. There is a sense of risk in blinding spaces, and all body movements become more groping as soon as there is a visual limitation, steps are hesitant, and hands are outstretched.

In my eyes, beauty also lies in these spaces. The body and the desire to feel safe also pull toward the invisible space. We are attracted to vague, dark, smoky areas. I am also attracted to them, so I try to paint them—these places. I am constantly wondering how these spaces can be drawn and how they can exist on the seam between the imagined and the real. Or more precisely, how the earthly borders with the imaginary.