Paula Sousa Cardoso

Paula Sousa Cardoso has developed a body of work focused on questions related to representation of the human body. In certain series, the artist explicitly represents the body but in most of her works its presence, although constant, is veiled. The allusion to the body is metaphorical and its presence is intangible.
The work presented by the artist in this competition is the fruit of a series of works in which she explores the confluence between contemporary environments and characters from well-known paintings by Van Eyck. These figures, removed from their initial context, stamp a strange dimension on the work, reminiscent ofstage sets inhabited by mysterious figures.
The next step has been to eradicate the characters completely from the pictures, whereby the representation of the body is achieved via its very absence. The spaces she now proposes are everyday environments, places that invite us to live within them (or provoke an idea of habitation), that promote lifestyles (or, once again, an idea of lifestyles), but which are ultimately false and empty scenarios. It is in this void, in this frozen space (rather like a still life) that the spectator is invited to project his or her memories and desires.