Swimmers and the way towards the river: Guadiana Valley are part of A Guadiana, an on-going research project that delves into stories and reflections around the Guadiana River and its route, until the South of Portugal, where the river flows into the Gulf of Cádiz. 

The research makes use of video and image material done by myself, as well as ones from family members. The multimedia materials depict the relation established with the river- for movement, food, leisure, nourishment, and others. The pieces take shape through an auto-biographical approach, touching upon notions of identity and personal and collective memory. 

the way towards the river: Guadiana Valley, 2025
Video-installation, Video HD, sound, color, 7’03’’, loop

The Grand Tiger Hotel, Hotel Tiger, Zurich, CH


the way towards the river: Guadiana Valley showcases the family car trip through the Guadiana Valley, in the direction of Laranjeiras do Guadiana, the village where my grandmother from my father’s side was born in the 1920’s. 
This secluded place is located in the interior southern part of Portugal, in the region of Algarve, in a mountainous area that borders Spain. 

The video is composed of clips, shot through the car window with the phone camera, and depict the mundane images we might recognize from other trips, through the curves and bumps of the road, where the passenger observes nature, built infrastructure, bridges and borders. 

The looping video repeats itself over and over again in a travel that lasts forever: towards and through, in a continuous return to the river, while wind, voices and the radio play in the background, accompanying the flashing and fleeting images.

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Swimmers n.1 - Pipa; Swimmers n.2 - Joana and Carolina

Laserprint on Tintoretto Paper, 140gm2, 40x50cm, 36x50cm, 2025
The Grand Tiger Hotel, Hotel Tiger, Zurich, CH
Swimmers portraits interactions with the Guadiana River. The photographic series, composed of laserprint images, frammed and displayed with a colored passepartout, reveals moments of intimacy and interaction with nature, and with water particularly, and narratives of playfullness and discovery. Each image is a frame from video recordings of my own childhood and teenage years.

In the first two numbers of the photographic series is portrait Pipa, n.1, my youngest sister swimming in the river, and Joana and Carolina, n.2, doing the handstand in the water.